UK - Kew Gardens Curator - "There Is No Winter Anymore". .. Meanwhile, Edinburgh Hits 14C - Scotsman

[hatrack]

WINTER is disappearing as a season in Britain, with milder weather continuing from autumn into spring, experts said yesterday. The curator of Kew Gardens in London said winter had disappeared altogether, with some trees flowering "months earlier than the norm", while a botanical colleague in Edinburgh reported winter conditions lasting just a week so far. Dr Nigel Taylor, of Kew, said plants were responding to a climate that was "behaving very strangely" – English hawthorn had already started growing its leaves, while the common ash was already in flower.

Yesterday Scotland saw temperatures more commonly of associated with summer. In Glasgow and Aberdeen it was 11C, while Edinburgh soared to a balmy 14C, comparable to the average maximum in July. The Met Office also reported that last month was the wettest January on record for eastern Scotland.

Climate change is expected to bring winters that are both milder and wetter to Scotland. Dr Taylor said he was surprised to see native British species – used to wide variations in temperatures during the seasons – reacting as if winter was over.

"I was shocked to see these kinds of things leafing and flowering, and to do so at the risk of damage from frost and winter weather," he said. "No-one predicted winter was finished, but the behaviour of these plants shows winter has ended. "Over the last 12 months there has been no winter. Last year was extraordinary, spring was in January, April was summer, the summer was cool then it was warmer and sunny in autumn. "There is no winter anymore. Despite a cold snap before Christmas it is nothing like when I was younger. People are growing bananas outdoors now – my neighbour has had bananas coming to fruit. A lot of plants we now take for granted would not have survived the winter of 1963, which was the last proper winter."

EDIT

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech/There-is-no-winter-in.3757992.jp

[GliderGuider]

1. Meanwhile, Ottawa is drowning in cold and snow

We've apparently had more snow so far this winter than in the last two or three put together. I wonder if it's part of the macro-system that's hit Tajikistan and China? Lots of "excursive" weather events around these days.

[hatrack]

2. As I've been blathering for years, "Climate Breakdown" or "Climate Destabilization"

Not "global warming".

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I still use "Global Warming"

The climate destabilization is a direct result of a general warming of global average temperatures.

And, let's face it, the "skeptics" point to the change of terminology as hedging bets. (i.e. "Well, maybe the globe isn't warming... but the climate is changing...")

The hazard of "Global Warming" (of course) is that then they expect the temperature to always be like the 4th of July.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Warming can also mean more snow.

Ottawa seems to have had a warm January:
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/CYOW/2008/1/8/MonthlyHistory.html

Around here, we used to talk about it being "too cold to snow." Heavy snowfall tends to happen when the temperatures are close to freezing.

Well, this year, down here, we really haven't seen many days when it's been too cold to snow. Instead, it's too warm to snow. We're getting rain, freezing rain, sleet, and occasionally some snow.

My guess is that your increased snowfall is due (at least in part) to your warmer than average temperatures.