Summer in March? Warming Climate Alters Europe's Seasons
New research shows that summer conditions are now arriving 10 days earlier in Europe than four decades ago.
Earth’s seasonal clock is out-of-whack. Summers in Europe are coming ten days ahead of schedule, and could be up to 20 days early by century’s end if the current pace of carbon emissions continues, according to a new study by French scientists published Monday.
And it’s not just Europe. Trees leafing out sooner, birds shifting migrations and butterflies arriving early provide evidence of climate change altering seasonal weather conditions across the Northern Hemisphere.
Europe's first day of summer conditions has moved up 10 days over the past four decades, according to the study published in Nature. The annual switch from winter to summer weather patterns—which had occurred around April 10 at the start of the 1960s—abruptly began jumping forward during that decade. By 2010, the switch was occurring on March 30. And by 2100, the scientists project, Europe’s “summer” will
