Here's a quiz for you and your friends, family, colleagues, or weather dorks like me - how would you describe the overall temperature during the month of April 2013 in Connecticut? The following choices are in comparison to long-term temperature averages from National Weather Service climate stations in Connecticut.
A) Much colder than usual (several degrees)
B) Cooler than usual (a few degrees)
C) Right about average (within a degree either way)
D) Warmer than usual (a few degrees)
E) Much hotter than usual (several degrees)
Go ahead and take a few minutes to think about it before I give you the answer.
OK, so you probably did not need a few minutes, but it can be time for you to ask others what they think.
I can go ahead and guess that you will not be saying one of those answers. Coincidentally the very same answer that likely no one will be choosing is what it was last year, and that was E as we all remember 2012's scorching spring. Selecting E this year would be the wrong choice but I am sure no one did.
Give up yet?
No, it was not warmer than usual (D) and it was not much colder than usual (A) even though it felt like it sometimes. It was not even cooler than usual (B) which I am suspecting most people would believe. The temperature in Connecticut in April 2013 was C, right about average! This is what your typical spring is supposed to feel like in our state with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s for the most part. The Bridgeport area was actually 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the month and the Hartford area was -0.7 degrees Fahrenheit below. This is remarkable to me given that most springs in my life in the state have felt much warmer. Perhaps part of it is a memory of last year's historic heat but overall it is a reflection of what we have felt from climate change during the past few decades.
Normal is the best situation for all of the life our state holds from the trees to the birds to the insects and the mammals. Now if we could only get some rain...more on that in my next post.
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician
No comments:
Post a Comment