You are not imaging it that spring has come early this year, although we could still see cold weather in the next few weeks. The US National Phenology Network (NPN) gives us a glimpse each year of how spring is progressing across the country by tracking blooms of flowers, sitings of animals and other markers showing the coming of spring. This week’s map shows that parts of the Southeast are as much as three weeks ahead of normal, with a few areas like Charlottesville VA as much as 24 days ahead of usual. You can read more about the NPN and how it monitors the flow of the spring “green wave” north through the US at https://www.usanpn.org/news/spring.
