With wildflowers blooming as many as 12-20 days ahead of long-term averages, spring has officially sprung early in the West, according to maps kept by the USA-National Phenology Network.
“The exceptions are high-elevation Western mountains … where spring is expected to arrive on time, and the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Pacific coast… where gusts of cold Arctic air have delayed spring,” says High Country News using the network’s data.
Between 1950 and 2005, climate change has hurried the arrival of spring in the region by about eight days, based on the 2014 National Climate Assessment. Earlier blooms might mean that migratory birds land once their primary food source has already withered or it could hinder the amount of foliage available to animals like elk, says HCN.
As for agriculture, a premature spring also confuses pollination in crop fields, with insects sometimes appearing after the flowers have already disappeared, and it can lead to a mismatch in when pests and their predators arrive.