Really, spring will arrive, really

With all the snow occupying our landscape, it’s hard to image spring at all. Be assured that it will arrive; in fact, March 20 will bring vernal, or spring, equinox. It’s that point in time that we have equal daytime and nighttime hours. Yes, even with the passing of equinox, it’s highly likely we’ll still have snow on the landscape.

A couple of other things March will bring us – Sunday, March 10, we go through the antiquated ceremonial turning of our clocks forward one hour. Here’s hoping Washington state does pass the Stay on Daylight Saving Time year-round legislation. Lastly, March 1 marked the 109th anniversary of the Stevens Pass Avalanche that took the lives of 96 people.

We’re on the topic of seasons, and I thought I’d share some information I came across a while ago and bookmarked for a later date. It has to do with migration, specifically bird migration. We have several bird migration “flyways” in North America that provide passage for millions of birds going either north or south. A study that was conducted by “The Condor: Ornithological Applications” brings to light how environmental changes just over a few decades, like climate change, can influence birds. The research point of focus was on a migration route in Northern California and on specific bird species. Over this time period, birds were captured and banded. The researchers sought Pacific-slope flycatcher, orange-crowned warbler and Wilson’s warbler — all of which have short migrations up and down the coast — and the Swainson’s thrush and yellow warbler, both of which have longer migrations between North and South America.

The research further explains: “Changes in the birds’ migrations varied from one species to the next. But the researchers found a general pattern of earlier spring migrations, changing by about 2.5 days per decade, and later fall migrations, moving forward by about three days per decade.” Additional research has been drawing a similar conclusion. A paper published a year ago in the “Journal of Animal Ecology” examined data on more than 400 species across five continents and found that birds have, on average, adjusted their spring migration time by about two days per decade, or one day for every degree Celsius of global warming.

Time to take a look at our February 2019 weather data results. All readings are from my home weather station. Let’s start with snow and Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) first. I measured a total of 16.4 inches of snowfall. The SWE was 1.34 inches of water. Our total precipitation was 1.40 inches (the difference is the measurement of all precipitation). The all-time record snowfall for February is 17.1 inches, occurring in 1959. A low temperature of 6°F occurred on the 10th, and our high temperature was 39.3°F on the 1st and 2nd. The mean temperature for this past February was 23.4°F. The all-time low was -15°F back in 1950, while the all-time high was 61°F in 1995. The all-time mean for February is 32.7°F. Looks like we were way off from the mean, and that will likely cause an adjustment in future National Weather Service calculations for mean temperature here.

For those who look up at our night sky, “In early March, both Mercury and Mars shine in the West after sunset. Venus, Jupiter and Saturn shine before sunrise.” That’s the summary of what planets are visible in our March night sky, thanks to our friends at EarthSky. A full Moon occurs on March 20.

Enjoy the weather.