What's the Problem with an Early Spring?

Springtime. A season of renewal. Budding leaves. Baby animals! Is it just me, or did spring come early this year? The idea of an “early spring” might seem anecdotal. Temperatures change daily, and they vary from place to place. And even if spring is coming early, isn’t nice weather a good thing? Today there’s a lot of evidence that spring is indeed arriving earlier and earlier—and that early springs have serious consequences for the environment. In 2023 Earth’s near-surface temperatures were about 2.45 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than during the late 19th century. And in 2024 the January and February global surface temperatures were the warmest for those months in all of the instrumental era. It’s this additional heat in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans that helps to bring about an early spring—and you don’t have to be a scientist to recognize the signs. In Washington, D.C., the city’s iconic springtime cherry blossoms are blooming about six days earlier than they did about one hundred years ago—and are pushing the National Cherry Blossom Festival earlier too. A similar pattern is happening with lilac and honeysuckle. Animals are also affected. While warm temperatures prompt many plants to bud earlier, birds and bees rely on day length to spur spring activities. Plants and animals can then become “out of sync,” missing out on pollination and food. Finally, here’s a weird one. Male Arctic ground squirrels typically emerge from dormancy about one month before females—time they need to regrow atrophied genital tissues before mating. But when temperatures warm, female squirrels are drawn out of hibernation early…and could meet males that aren’t ready to mate. An early spring may feel nice, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It has the potential to disrupt the deeper patterns and forces that make the familiar joys of springtime worth experiencing at all.