Just how much hotter is it in your area than it was a few years back?

[Baitball Blogger]

This is something gardeners live by: a climate zone. My area became so much warmer, my zone changed.

https://apps.npr.org/plant-hardiness-garden-map/

After clicking on the link, Scroll down to input your own zip code.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Want evidence of climate change? Track nighttime temperatures

In Canada, the government weather service web forecasts ( for example one at random next to US https://weather.gc.ca/en/location/index.html?coords=42.293,-83.051 ) show averages for this day of the year for the period something like 1970 to 2010 (doesn't show the range but that was what it has been for years).

If you look at the night-time temperatures, they are usually above the "Normal" historical average by a degree or two (Celsius) six out of seven nights. Week after week.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. This Year, Not So Much

However, the cause of the colder than normal temperatures this early spring is actually higher than normal stratospheric temperatures.
So, climate change can also trigger unseasonably cold conditions.
Evidence of global heating is not just higher temperatures, regionally. The added energy chaos can manifest itself in several different ways.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. It's markedly warmer, but my zone hasn't changed.

[Scrivener7]

6. Oh, for fuck's sake. You ignorant asshole. Get a freaking life.

[Scrivener7]

5. Gone from 7a to 7b. But that's only since the 90s. I grew up in the 60s and 70s.

We used to skate on our local river from about December through February. Every year.

That river hasn't frozen in decades.

[Johnny2X2X]

7. It's pretty stark in Michigan

My part of the state had slightly below average snowfall, but it seemed like a hard Winter because recent years we barely had a Winter at all.

And the thing I notice in MI is wind storms. We have more severe eind events. Not necessarily tornados, although we just had a big out break, but just gusty wind storms that bring down branches and cause some power outages. Seems we have them several times a year now where it was once every year or 2 before.

And climate change is unpredictable, people just assume that Michigan will be fine because we're pretty cold, and "who doesn't want a little more heat in Michigan?" You just don't know what the unknowns are. Windstorms, crop damage, ground water problems, lake level changes, erosion, more pest bugs, air quality issues. And a thousand other things you don't think about. For all we know, in 30 years, Michigan could become the first state that's truly uninhabitable because of Climate Change. We just don't now.

[elocs]

8. I've never gardened especially now that I eat a carnivore diet. This past winter in western WI

was relentlessly sub-zero and windy. It sucked. The previous winter was mild.
Maybe in the future, Wisconsin will become a summertime vacation spot for those in the miserably hot South.

[Butterflylady]

9. I remember back n the 50s thru the 90s...

We had blizzards at least one or two each year. Now we are lucky if we 4 or 5 inches of snow maybe once a year. It's been that for a couple of years. Also, we haven't had extended freeze spells in my part of PA.