Spring has been late in Asia, too. It's probably the effect of the - NAO, again. I usually see magnolia buds starting to open around March 17th, but they stayed snug in their fuzzy wraps until the 30th, this year. It's the same with forsythia, apple and cherry blossoms. But, as of April 9th, everything is blooming at once! We had 2 days over 10 C (50 F), a rainy day, then two more warm and windy days. That's all it took for every tree and bush to go crazy, trying to make up for lost time.
A small added factor in our late spring was the Chinese smoke and dust cutting our sunlight. The dust? Much of northern China is apparently trying to become part of the Gobi Desert. They really need to plant trees as windbreaks, as was done in the Great Plains states after the Dust Bowl.
Spring has been late in Asia, too. It's probably the effect of the - NAO, again. I usually see magnolia buds starting to open around March 17th, but they stayed snug in their fuzzy wraps until the 30th, this year. It's the same with forsythia, apple and cherry blossoms. But, as of April 9th, everything is blooming at once! We had 2 days over 10 C (50 F), a rainy day, then two more warm and windy days. That's all it took for every tree and bush to go crazy, trying to make up for lost time.
A small added factor in our late spring was the Chinese smoke and dust cutting our sunlight. The dust? Much of northern China is apparently trying to become part of the Gobi Desert. They really need to plant trees as windbreaks, as was done in the Great Plains states after the Dust Bowl.