The first day of Spring occurred earlier this week. And those of us in West Texas are feeling the heat -- the high today is expected to be 90°F. This is way too early for such hot weather. We typically get the first 100° day in May, but if this keeps up, that day may come sooner.
In any event, we want to scratch our heads when we see articles like this: Why the Spring Always Seems Colder Than It Should Be:
But why? Isn’t there more sunlight in the spring? Yes, but warming up the planet takes time. Enter “seasonal temperature lag.” More of the sun’s energy is hitting this part of the Earth come spring, sure, but most of it is being used up to heat the ground and large bodies of water first. Once that happens, everything else catches up and the overall temperature finally increases. So, it’s spring now, and you can be excited about the notion of it, but it won’t stop feeling like winter for a little while longer.
Forecasts tell us to expect some cooling here soon. However, there is a good lesson here: Generalizations about climate are notoriously unreliable.
1:38 PM 3/22/2017
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