I keep temperature and weather data for my gardening (planting mostly) and
to a much lesser extent, my bees since the 1980s.
One thing that stands out, and is reinforced by good science, is that
daytime temps are lower than in the past while nightime temps are higher.
For me and many others this is a result of a global warming climate. There
are many other indicators of warming, but they all have to do with the
water vapor content of air.
Water vapor lowers daytime temps and raises nighttime temps. You can see it
on your tv when they show weekly highs and lows. The global average temp is
increasing but only because of increasing night time temps.
Most water vapor comes from the oceans.There is a lot of speculation on
what is causing that, but this list is not the place to figure it out.
With my bees, the higher nightime temps have led to earlier frost free
dates and later first frost dates. The former has not been a problem, while
the latter has since that usually is the kill date for flowering plants in
my area and, as long as there is nectar around, the bees will fly and use
up stores longer.
However the fact that days are not as warm has led to longer springs here
in Maine, as well as cooler summers. We usually have several heat waves in
the summer (three or more days over 90F) but for the past several years
there might have been only one or none.
Because of the lower daytime temps, it takes a while before the bees really
get moving in the spring. Plus I have to plant about two or more weeks
later for plants like tomatoes and squash. If I plant them when I used to,
they would sit until it gets warm, which leads to lousy squash and tomatoes.
Once the temps get higher, the bees also explode. High water vapor also has
led to wetter springs so we have lots of green all year long and vigorous
plants.

What I am really saying is, I really don't care anything about climate
change or global warming, mainly because it has happened before and the
earth survived. I read Marco Polo's writings and it just confirms that the
climate has always been changing.I only am concerned as to how to manage my
bees under any new circumstances. They seem to have done fine over a
million or so years, and they will do so for a million more, I am the one
who has to change to accomodate my bees in their changes.

Meanwhile I have adapted to climate change by jumping on the gravy train
and installed solar panels and a heat pump. I did it because of the
insanity of zero fossil fuels which will drive electricity costs higher, as
it has in all places that are going to carbon zero. But I also have a
back-up oil furnace, a wood stove and a 8kwh generator for when the sun
doesn't shine (or it is cloudy and snowy) and the wind doesn't blow and
there is no fossil fuel backup.

As an aside, we are now going through a warmup here in Maine- into the 40s
and it is being touted as the new normal. It is the January thaw- which can
also happen in February- and the temps are lower ! than a normal one that
usually gets into the 50s and often 60s.

Next week we will be going into a very cool period until mid-March and
maybe later. I am going out today and rearrange the sugar feeder on one
that has eaten through one edge already. The rest are fine.

In essence, accommodate to my surroundings.

Bill Truesdell, a big fan of Allen's for  a long time. Randy, too.
Bath, Maine

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