Searching for Signs

Some human phenology... yesterday, I drove home with my window open. It wasn't actually that warm out, but my car had been acting as a solar collector all day, and I was wearing my winter down coat. So with that combination, I was quite hot sitting in the car and decided to let in some cool air until I felt better -- and ended up driving all the way home with my window about 6 inches down. Well, don't ask me why my brain works this way, but as I was driving that way, I started wondering if all the people passing me (I was moving rather slowly due to traffic) would think I was crazy for having my window open, or a smoker, which is usually why people open their windows in the winter. And so I started looking... and everyone had their windows open! Probably 8 or 9 cars out of every 10 had drivers who were enjoying the fresh air. And I doubt all of them were smoking. So that's a sign of spring, right there.

This morning is bright and frosty (everything is sparkly and white). I will bundle up and head out to look for early signs of spring with my kindergarten students... although I admit that the idea behind this hunt is that the first time we do it -- today -- we find mostly signs of winter and then gradually over the next month they look again and see more signs of spring each time... still, we might find something today that means spring is on the way. (RWBB time??? Anyone seen them yet???)

Time Machine

They say that spring moves north at about 15 miles per day. In other words, all other things being equal, a flower that first blooms here today will first bloom tomorrow in a town 15 miles north of here; or, to bring it closer to reality… the elm trees that were starting to flower Wednesday evening in the Whole Foods parking lot (Northbrook) should flower here today. And indeed, the buds, which have been swollen for a few days, have opened up (see photo, taken this morning). When you touch them, a cloud of pollen flies into the air.

This equation only works, of course, with the “all things being equal” part, and that’s a tall order. Same light conditions, soil conditions, watering conditions… But on average, it works out; aerial photographs taken weekly will show green moving northward in hundred mile increments. (100 miles a week = about 15 miles a day. Perhaps I didn’t need to spell that out for my loyal readers, but please remember that my normal audience is in the 10-year-old range.)

This means that, in the next week, as we travel to North Carolina and back, covering about 450 miles in north-south-ness, we will be phenologically transported 30 days into the future, and back again. It will be green when we get there! That’s a lot of time travel in a five-day trip!