PORTSMOUTH, Va. — This year, the most famous weather furry forecaster in the country may have gotten it wrong.
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow back in February and called for six more weeks of winter. But a warmer February here in Hampton Roads is bringing signs of an early spring.
The meteorological start to the season begins on March 1, and the astronomical start of Spring is on March 20 this year -- with the exception of one or two days -- those dates stay pretty much the same year to year.
When we say “early spring,” what we mean is spring-like conditions, from weather to plants, even changes in the behavior of animals. In parts of the country, some of those changes are happening 20 to 25 days early.
Back in 1984, we traveled to a Portsmouth nursery to track down plant lovers enjoying early mild weather that also happened that year.
What people probably weren’t enjoying, like this year, was an early round of pollen and the allergies that ensued.
“Try to keep the windows closed, and make sure to change the air filters inside the home,” said Dr. Maulin Desai with Patient First.
But an earlier spring has plenty of beautiful benefits... the Cherry Blossom spectacle in Washington D.C. usually peaks around April 4 with the earliest bloom on record being on March 15, 1990.
This year, the National Park Service reports the sentinel tree that goes into bloom 10 days before the rest is already starting to bud. That means we could break the record for the earliest bloom in the next two weeks.