We live east of Raleigh, With the construction in the area and the resulting number of house, paved roads, and blacktop parking lots, it seems to have effected the weather patterns. Unless a storm comes from the south, or south east south, the rain misses us.

When we lived in Indianapolis it was interesting to watch the storm cup as the storm line passed of the area. As it got further east the cup would back fill and the front reform about 30 or 40 miles east of the city.

In the Raleigh area we see something similar, but the pattern is altered the two cities Raleigh and Durham. The urban area extends nearly 100 miles from north west Durham to South west Raleigh, so it form quite a large shield that storms must over come. Indianapolis is one city with the urban area about 40 mile circle around the city.

So unless we water a lot, and accept the high bills, we have to plan yard work around the possible rain.

Was just looking at my variegated lace cap which rarely flowers and trying to plan how to protect from the inevitable freezes now that it has buds emerging

I might add that right now the temperature in the shade on the screened in porch is 84 degrees--March 7.

There is no conceivable way this will end well--for everyone everywhere of course in the long run, but this year right here and now, it will be a massacre.

@laceyvail 6A, WV, you are preaching to the converted.

At the national and international level it will require a dedicated, cooperative, laser focussed and of course expensive effort to slow this down. Yup that aint happening,

Alas, rouge, you are right. None so blind as those who will not see.

@laceyvail 6A, WV 84? That’s crazy! Expecting a high of 76 in the coming week, but only for one day. I am only about 2 miles from the Chesapeake and it does have a moderating effect on our temps. The thing that I have noticed the most here is a significant increase in high wind events!

We’ve had drought conditions for 2 years running and the wind in combination with the lack of rain has been very hard on things!

We had 'springs' like that during the 2000's. There always seemed to be a couple of days in March or early April when the temperatures were around 90F. I remember having to do a mad dash to Albany to pick up our local rose society's spring orders which were baking in somebody's garage. I don't remember it being particularly hard on established plants, but they were probably not nearly as far along.

And of course weather is not the same as climate.

Yes, back in the 70s and 80s we occasionally had a very warm day in March, but we also had real winter--many nights well below zero, days only in the teens. Now as climate has changed, we get polar vortexes in the middle of the new normal winters that have daytime temps in the 40s and night times occasionally in the upper teens. The craziness of the weather in various parts of the country and the world is part of the vast planetary climate change.

Also, in those years, summer temps here in SE WV very rarely got to the mid 80s, there was no humidity and you never needed an air conditioner. Quite different now, with temps high 80s to low 90s, humidity, and you most certainly need an air conditioner. The last two summers, my Hydrangea 'Quick Fire' never fired up because, as it turned out, night time temps were too high. Really, really disappointing. I wish now I'd gotten the old 'Tardiva'.

It's weather -- wonderful warm day here IMO finally. March is ALWAYS variable. Joe Bastardi has good (but rather technical) explanations on the right-side of the webpage w/the Saturday summary. Real cold returns after mid-March and onward (exactly as usual).

http://www.weatherbell.com/premium

Yes, the weather seems to have gotten crazier lately with larger swings in temperature and rainfall amounts. We're seeing a more frequent incidence of straight-line winds toppling trees or snapping them off high above ground. Currently experiencing a prolonged period with little rain. Had to water the Azaleas in before the super cold snap came in January. Never had to do that before. Lost a 50-year-old Camelia two years ago and the Gardenias froze to the ground.

New bugs and weeds are invading as well. Lost more than a dozen Ash to the Ash Tree borer. The dry conditions make the Pines more susceptible to the Pine Borer. Never saw Mulberry Weed until three years ago. Where the heck did the Chickweed come from? We are literally pulling bushels baskets of it out of the Daylily bed.

Lived here since 1984 and these are some of the changes we've noticed.

Nes insect pests in the vegetable garden here as well. The allium leaf borer means you now have to use row covers over garlic and onions--two months in early spring and again two months Sept/Oct. Carrot maggot is so bad they need row covers too. I grow a lot of cabbage/mustards so I'm already using a lot of row covers--so now even more to deal with. They're great for what they do, but they certainly are more work.

Sounds like gardening in the rockies since time immemorial

At least we don't get--or not yet anyhow--the tornadoes, ever more violent hurricanes, and fires that are also the effects of global warming. We are likely to get flooding, but so far no really bad flooding close to me. We dodged a bullet a few weeks back when the ice storm that was supposed to hit us and just south of us where our power comes from never hit though it did hit much of the deep south. We'd have been without power for days--and it was very cold.

Oh yes, I know. It's really only a matter of time and luck. And parts of WV have had terrible flooding. Global chaos/climate change will get us all in the end. If AI doesn't do it first.

We're enjoying our saucer magnolias in bloom, at least until anticipated temps early next week down to 20F at night turn flowers and opening buds into mush.

The Japanese plums are prematurely flowering, so I expect no fruit again this year. It'll be iffy for the Asian pears which are getting ready to open flower buds.

I don't plan to remove any perennial garden mulch for a couple of weeks yet.

This is not Colorado!

But speaking of Colorado....

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/winter-skipped-western-united-states/

Yes, 41 North, the global climate is just beginning its wild fluctuations. It will get much worse before it settles down.

Yesterday it was 83. Tonight it will be in the mid to low 20s. Nothing normal about that.

I can partially agree.

Last few days of Oct. 2025 and first week of Nov. 2025, it was upper 80's with one 90 and 3 days later, we had 25d for two nights. I can only remember one other time, circa Feb. 1979, it went into the 80s for a week, that killed a row of hardy fruit trees my dad had planted, the Fall earlier.

History has shown that ice ages and hot periods have come and gone over the centuries, but I'm still not convinced that Human beings are able to control changing global climates, even though we think we're smart enough to do that.

Much of the wild weather has to do with the hunga tonga volcano 4 years ago that threw massive amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere and troposphere that has yet to work its way out. It was a very, very unusual event

I agree L.

There's much more to climate change than one might imagine.

On average, approximately 50 to 70 volcanoes erupt worldwide annually. While this is the yearly average, on any given day, about 10 to 20 volcanoes are typically in a state of active eruption.

• Total Active Volcanoes: There are about 1,350 potentially active volcanoes, mostly located along the Pacific "Ring of Fire".
• Annual Data: According to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, usually between 60 to 80 individual eruptions occur, as some volcanoes erupt more than once.
• Recent Trends: Between 1991 and 2023, data indicates a consistent range of 56 to 88 volcanoes erupting annually.

NOAA:

https://research.noaa.gov/hunga-tonga-2022-eruption/

I'm not saying pollution control is bad, it's good but let's not say it's necessarily going to be our salvation, climate wise. There's much of this that's completely out of our hands.

Now let's hope an asteroid doesn't hit the planet!

Laceyvail,

I thought this was a discussion?

If we all get mad and walk away, just because someone disagrees with us, what's the point of discussing anything?

You'll have to reread my post.

I said pollution control was good.

And that there's more than pollution control affecting the climate.

If you want to start discussions, you have to remember there will be different views on the subject.

I'm sorry you disagree but saying 'we could have prevented it all' is a pretty bold statement.