Seeing Wildflowers Blooming Early on Texas Roadsides? Blame La Niña & Global Warming

“As you notice things over the years, you start being able to perceive the effects of climate change, even if you don’t have a thermometer in your backyard.”

By Mose BucheleFebruary 20, 2017 9:30 am,

From KUT

In much of Texas the sun is out, flowers are in bloom and you might be getting that springtime feeling. However, it’s still mid-February and it’s not your imagination: This has been another very warm winter.

“It feels like this year [plants are blooming] are a week or two earlier than average,” says Andrea DeLong Amaya, director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Amaya says she’s been getting calls about early blooming bluebonnets and trees that are starting to “leaf-out” a bit earlier than expected. That’s because it has been a hotter than average winter.

Average temperatures across the state have been 2 to 4 degrees above normal since October. That’s warmer by more than a degree from previous records, according to state climatologist John Neilsen-Gammon. He says a La Niña weather pattern helped make this a warm winter, but adds that climate change also plays a role.

“Warmer temperatures make a difference in the natural environment, in terms of things like the changing of the seasons,” Neilsen-Gammon says. “As you notice things over the years, you start being able to perceive the effects of climate change, even if you don’t have a thermometer in your backyard that you’ve recording data [with] for many years.”

But, it’s affecting more than just flowers in Austin, says Danielle Sekula with farmers for the Texas AgriLife extension in the Lower Rio Grand Valley.

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