What Is Going On With The Weather?
From bare chests in New York, to bare slopes in Vermont, this week record high temperatures left some parts of the country wondering if Old Man Winter had retired.
Normally, John Nowakowski and Phil VacCarello would be swinging shovels in Chicago this time of year. Instead, they are swinging golf clubs.
"If this is global warming, I love it," VacCarello told Sunday Morning correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. "You know it's kinda insane. Yesterday I heard on the radio there were 30 guys who teed off before noon and I said, 'You know what, I've never golfed in January in Chicago; I gotta do it.'"
"So what does he do? He calls his buddy up who's a golf nut just like him and he says 'You know, how's your golf swing doing?' And I said, "I'm up for it, we'll go out golfing.' It's 50 degrees. It's ridiculous!" Nowakowski said.
Should we worry about these unusually balmy temperatures? Is this global warming or just one of Mother Nature's mood swings?
"I don't think one particular year means we have to worry all that much," NASA climatologist Drew Shindell said. "It's like if the stock market goes up or down one day. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to stay up or down. We have to worry because these are long-term changes."
Shindell says the Earth's annual surface temperature is rising.
"In the past 30 or 40 years you can see the global warming distinctly," Shindell said. "The planetary temperature is going steadily and sharply up."
The landscape is changing around us. This week, a map that shows gardeners what plants can thrive in what areas of the United States was revised. In 1990, places like Washington D.C. were on the border of the Northern and Southern growing zones. Now they are part of the Southern Zone.
"As a citizen of the planet, I'm concerned," said Bill McLaughlin, the curator of the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. "It may not be such a good thing for instance, if sea levels rise — it's catastrophic. As a gardener, I look at it and go, 'Oh, I can grow this now. I can grow that now, it's kind of fun.'"
Michigan has warmed so much magnolia trees can now grow there. The Arizona Cypress could safely uproot to New Jersey. Longtime New York City birdwatcher Peter Mott wouldn't be surprised if palm trees reside in Central Park someday.
This winter he and other bird-watchers have seen some things that might suprise most Yankee bird-watchers.
"I don't recall ever seeing a great blue heron, and in Princeton they had 68 of them — 68 of them this year!" Motts said.
Blue Herons ought to be down South. But this winter, bird watchers say some migratory birds are staying North longer and some Southern birds have taken up residence here, permanently.
"It's entirely possible this is a symptom of global warming — for example in 1950, we had no red bellied woodpeckers in Central Park. Now, we have 25 or 30," Motts said.
"But is it a sign of global warming or just a few odd birds?" asked climatologist Jeffery Schultz.
It would be an error to say this one week or one winter is only due to global warming. Consider Colorado. Blanketed with back to back blizzards this winter — no talk of Global Warming there. Experts say we need to look at weather trends over decades, not a few balmy days.