From Watts Up With That:
City UHI makes spring bloom earlier
March 9, 2012
From the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, somebody finally gets it. We’ve changed or local climates significantly, and the plants have figured this out long ago.
In this image, the longer growing season near cities and close to the water is indicated in red. Credit: Dr. Andrew Elmore/University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Mid-Atlantic suburbs can expect an early spring thanks to the heat of the big city.
If you’ve been thinking our world is more green than frozen these days, you’re right. A recent study has found that spring is indeed arriving earlier – and autumn later – in the suburbs of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The reason? The urban landscape traps heat in the summer and holds it throughout the winter, triggering leaves to turn green earlier in the spring and to stay green later into autumn. The result is a new, extended growing season.
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