Weather & Science
Spring Rushes in Weeks Early as Winter Fizzles Across the US
One of the warmest winters on record is awakening an early spring, which has consequences for plants and wildlife.
Flowers sprouting up around New York’s Central Park on Feb. 15.
Photographer: Misha Friedman/Bloomberg
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New York’s winter keeps melting away, insects are buzzing in Massachusetts, and across parts of Texas plants are leafing out earlier this year than they have in the last four decades.
Pushed along by climate change and forces across the Pacific Ocean, spring has arrived weeks early in the South and is now reaching up the East Coast into the Mid-Atlantic. In New York, temperatures are rising and bringing on warmth usually not seen until mid-March. Washington, DC’s famous cherry blossom trees are on pace to bloom early.