Pennsylvania Spring 2011 vs. Spring 2012, in Photos

Migraine x

Add New Interest

Jesse Ferrell

Pennsylvania Spring 2011 vs. Spring 2012, in Photos

April 11, 2012; 12:13 PM

Every spring, people say that "flowers & trees are coming out earlier than last year." But this year, they really are out early! I set out to prove it, by comparing photos I took last year, to this one. Here's a comparison of a maple tree budding in my front yard on March 17 -- WAY ahead of its progress on April 2, 2011, when it was covered with snow.

Speaking of "covered with snow" -- here's a photo of my Daffodils under snow on Feb. 14, 2012. They started coming up in late January, and I have no photos to compare that to, because it's never happened before.

And it's not just here in State College, Pa., check out these pictures from York, Pennsylvania that I took over the weekend. In the first, the tree that was flowering on April 24, 2011 has already finished and come out with leaves, and the other trees around it are ahead as well.

And last but not least, a picture of my girlfriend under the flowering tree at her house. Note that (at the very least) the tree flowers are similar, if not ahead of time in the 2012 photo.

Based on these pictures, I would estimate that flora is 3-5 weeks ahead of time. This is significant because it rarely varies more than a week, but that's what a record warm winter and March gets you.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

Comments

Comments left here should adhere to the AccuWeather.com Community Guidelines. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.

More The WeatherMatrix Blog

Great Lakes Ice Extent Twice Previous Record

April 18, 2014; 12:41 PM ET

The Great Lakes ice coverage is more than twice the highest ever for the week, and it's causing problems. Also, the March climate report lists more cold records.

What an April Heat Wave; Mountains Win With 90

April 14, 2014; 10:16 AM ET

The Appalachian mountains won the temperature war yesterday, with readings as high as 90 degrees. Record high temperatures were broken across the region.

Monster Australia Cyclone Ita Similar to Deadly Yasi

April 10, 2014; 2:53 PM ET

Dangerous Cyclone Ita is already stronger than devastating Cyclone Yasi's peak and the storm looks similar to Yasi on satellite.

Severe Weather in Argentina, Netherlands, Philippines

April 8, 2014; 2:04 PM ET

Severe weather has taken center stage in the news and Social Media this week, owing to severe thunderstorms in western Europe, Argentina and the Philippines.

Dropcam Adds Time-Lapse Capability to Cloud Camera

April 1, 2014; 1:59 PM ET

Dropcam has now added time-lapse capability to their cloud recording... your weather camera at home can now do full-day time-lapses.

End of March Over-Performing Snowstorm

March 31, 2014; 8:25 AM ET

This weekend's storm in the Northeast U.S. turned out to be another over-performer for snowfall.