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The spring weather

From the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center: And it has been a cold and wet spring. Jen's Mom and Dad are visiting from California and the almonds have finished blooming and the fruit has set. Maters are coming along fine. In the 70's down there. From Cliff Mass' blog:

Are Northwest Springs Getting Worse?
I have heard two questions over and over again this week:

Are springs getting worse?
Is this the worst spring on record?

Looking at the data one might argue that the answer to both of these is yes.

For me, it starts feeling spring-like when temperatures get over 55F. In the forties and lower fifties there is a chill in the air, but above 55F there is a different feel, and one doesn't need a sweater to work outdoors. Above 55F I can comfortably run in a tee shirt and shorts.

So let me propose a Spring-Fever Index that counts the numbers of days the temperature is above 55F from February 1 to April 14th. Why April 14th? Because today is April 15th! And April 15th (except this strange year) is tax day.

I think you are learning how science is done!

Now here is a plot of my spring-fever index for Seattle-Tacoma Airport from 1948 though 2011....the entire record at this site (thanks go to Neal Johnson of my department for gathering this data):

Click to embiggen... Global warming anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Posted by DaveH at April 21, 2011 8:10 PM