Spring is here, but it won't look like it just yet...

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It is the first day of spring, and after a very cold, dreary winter in Michiana, we are very excited for warm weather, green trees and flowers! However, we could have a slow start to the green up this year due to cool March temperatures, and no big warm up in sight. 

So far, the U.S. is seeing leaves sprouting on the trees at a fairly normal rate. Satellite imagery shows us that the green up is spreading north, to the state line of Indiana and Kentucky.

This is timely with the 30-year average. See below, the yellow shading shows where leaves normally start to grow by March 20th.

On average, Southern and Central Indiana start seeing leaves around March 31st.

NPN

Michiana does not normally start seeing leaves on the trees until April 8th, and then we have to wait another month before flowers start to bloom around May 10th

NPN

Unfortunately, we may not follow this ideal timeline, as temperatures have been colder than normal for all of March. The likelihood of seeing leaves on the trees in less than three weeks is low, because we need temperatures over 50 degrees to grow leaves, and there are not a whole lot of 50s in the forecast. 

Last year, Spring 2018, the trees didn't start sprouting leaves until early May! March was a cooler than normal month, comparable to this March. However, April was the second coldest April on record! By May, Temperatures quickly warmed into the 70s and 80s, and this finally helped accumulate the warmth needed to sprout leaves and bloom flowers.

MODIS

We have equal chances for above and below normal temperatures for April and May, therefore it is likely that we will see greening later than normal, more towards mid to late April.


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