Bill may argue against Global Warming. And I indicated that I'm skeptical
of the purported cause. However, in my short life-time, there has been a
decided shift in our weather in Montana, and the Glaciers of Glacier Park
are clearly melting away. I don't doubt the predictions of no glaciers by
2030, there's not much left now. That wasn't the case in my youth, nor in
any recorded history.
Whether you choose to believe the Global Warming folks or not, we do have
one of the leading groups in climate monitoring and modeling at our
University, and they predict that this change is not going to be short-lived. For
them, this isn't hype; they truly believe that we are in the midst of a
change.
Their advice to beekeepers and growers, expect to see the current trends
continuing for a long time, starting planning on it as it affects your
beekeeping schedules.
Plan on adjusting your schedules to account for a shift in seasons, its not
likely to reverse any time soon.
In Montana, spring is occurring earlier, and each year for past 10 yrs
we've set a new record for hottest temperature for a specific day in the
spring - its warming up faster, so we get warmer days, sooner. This change
does not seem to be affecting conditions as much in the fall, we still get
cold and snow about the same time as we've always experienced.
Our climate guys think that in the NW, part of this earlier spring warm up
may be due to the snow melt. In the past, there was a lot of snow covered
peaks and land. With the melt back, there's more bare land exposed,
sooner in the spring. More of the sun's energy is absorbed by bare ground than
by reflective snow.
Anyway, I'm glad to no longer see -40 F degree winters. In Missoula,
anything below 0 is becoming uncommon. We have adjusted our bee season to plan
on an earlier start. I'm from a farm background. I had to work in the
cold and snow for most of my childhood and early adulthood. Last decade,
winters in MT are nothing like I previously experienced in terms of cold. We
do still get snow, and sometimes record snow, but that's what our climate
guys predict - wetter winters, drier summers.
I don't need fancy models to tell me that things have changes. Whether it
will shift back in my life time, I doubt it - but then again, I've not got
a lot of years left. Our grand kids will know.
Jerry
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