WP: Winters endangered in American North

[DeepModem Mom]

Early Spring Disturbing Life on Northern Rivers
By Cheryl Lyn Dybas
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, March 20, 2006; Page A05

THE GLEN, N.Y. -- The winter-old river ice is creaking and groaning, shifting position. Spring has come early to the frozen upper Hudson River, and ice-out is just around the corner.

Lilliputian wildflowers will soon line the Hudson's banks. In what are known as riverside ice meadows, an ancient cycle of ice formation and melting gives rise to swamp candles, ladies'-tresses, wood lilies and other rare, diminutive flowers.

In New York's Adirondack Mountains, ice that forms on the river in winter is pushed onto its banks in spring; there it scours the sloping cobble shores, keeping them free of shrubs and small trees and leaving space for wildflowers to sprout in fragile, arctic-like ice meadows.

But the future for these floral pixies, which depend on late-melting river ice, is bleak. The number of days of ice on northeastern rivers has declined significantly in recent winters, said hydrologist Glenn Hodgkins of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Maine Water Science Center in Augusta.

The trend could spell disaster for the ice meadows. It also signals trouble ahead for endangered Atlantic salmon and other fish, for wetlands plants and animals, and for Northern economies, all of which are sustained by winters with icy rivers....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/19/AR2006031900758.html?nav=hcmodule

[havocmom]

1. Doves have shown up where I live, 6-8 weeks ahead of usual time

More and more geese are not leaving at all in winter. The ones who still migrate are coming back sooner.

It has been a very mild winter. Several in a row in fact.

[MadHound]

2. Not just the American North,

But even down into the lower latitudes. I live in Mid Missouri, and the last two winters here have been quite mild. While I'm glad that this has kept my heating bills down, it is really upsetting the natural balance here. Last year, we had a heavy, heavy amount of bugs during the spring, summer and into the fall. This year is going to be even worse. Not only does this increase the number of bugs attacking crops(including mine), but it increase the spread of bug borne diseases, namely Lyme and West Nile virus. I'm hoping that by encouraging bats around my property, I can alleviate some of the worse effects for myself, but insects are going to be a plague this year all across the Midwest.

This is also going to take a large toll on orchard growers like myself, in so much that fruit trees need a certain period of cold(below freezing) weather each year to insure good health and proper fruiting. We're not getting this now for two years running, and I'm not looking forward to what this is going to do to the fruit crops.

However good news is coming!:eyes: With the Gulf Stream getting flooded with fresh water, a new mini(perhaps even maxi) Ice Age will soon occur, both in Europe and possibly in the US. Then I'll have all the cold weather I could ever need or want:eyes:

[donsu]

3. here in Key West I'm hearing bird song I never heard before

we are in one of the north, south flyways and see certain types of birds coming and going twice each yr. but what I'm hearing is not one of these kinds of birds. (yrs. ago I was into bird watching on the mainland).

and for the last couple of summers the humidity seemed to come in waves. which it never did before. it's like a big chunk of very humid air passes through and then back to the normal humidity for the day. strange.