Happy First Day of Spring!

Happy first day of Spring! If you’re in northcentral daffodils in snowPennsylvania it’s probably snowing outside your window and not looking very spring-like. The photo was taken this morning in my yard. So, while the piles of snow are gone, there is again snow falling to the ground.

While you’re waiting for the snow to accumulate enough to go shovel, take a look at an article from February 1941. Popular Science published an article about an effort by 35,000 amateur scientists to observe and record information about the natural world around them.

As part of the study, 200 of the participants watched and tracked 30 species of wildflowers. They noted various milestones of the plants, including when the flowers first bloomed. The northern edge of the study area was 60 miles from the southern edge. They calculated spring moved north at 10 miles a day. The flowers at the southern edge bloomed 6 days before the same species at the northern edge.

They also tracked the speed spring moves up hills or mountains. From their observations, they calculated spring gains about 100 feet in elevation each day. So, if you had a hill 200 feet high, the spring plants at the base would bloom, then 2 days (200 feet divided by 100 feet per day) later, the same species at the top of the hill would bloom.

The article is pretty interesting and has some great photos. You might want to check it out!

Happy Spring from NPC!!