While climatologists might still argue over why our climate has warmed in recent decades, Mother Nature has already reacted to the change. Hi, I’m Bryan yea ton for The Weather Notebook.
Climatologists prefer directly measured data to determine climate trends, but often the best indicators come from just watching nature. And this is what naturalists do in a field called “phrenology.” Phrenologists observe recurrent natural events, such as the flowering of lilacs over many years, to determine how nature reacts to changing seasonal conditions.One climate change feature penology can study is the onset of Spring. Because the timing of Spring flowering and leafing is largely controlled by heat accumulation above a temperature threshold, researchers have found that many physical and biological indicators of Spring have begun occurring earlier in the year.