climate change is such a loaded topic with so much contentious misinformation mixed in with real data that discerning where we are at ( besides the solid data on parts per million of atmospheric CO2 and methane ) through reliance on the media can be confusing if not deliberately misleading...so i have resorted to at least trying to be empirical and becoming native to my back yard in an effort to view what may ( or may not ) be happening in microcosm...i would view the community garden at iun as part of my yard since i have been involved there for seven years now...and the appearance of carolina horse nettle there a couple of years ago coupled with the seeming ability of this non-native plant from the southeastern seaboard to over winter here in sub-zero temperatures ( at least last winter ) and not only survive but expand its range was something of an epiphany about small details
the weather on nay single day is the weather that day and it is what it is...over the longer term some patterns emerge...i began paying direct attention to rainfall in my yard last may which was an extraordinarily wet month by local standards...local precipitation hereabouts averages ( i know...averages lie ) around 39.5 inches a year...well...the the 10.6 my yard got in may set the pace for the last 220 days, never mind the year...there has been 39.6 inches of rain in my yard since may first...the 10.6 in may...
5.75 in june...
5.15 in july...
2.2 in august...
7 in september...
6.75 in october...
1.1 in november...
and 1.1 so far this month ( not taking the traces of snow into account )...climate science tells me that dry areas will become drier and wet areas wetter...so far ( and yes they are limited ) observations out back have supported that...this is a long-term project that meshes in with looking at behaviors in native plants like the jerusalem artichokes and bittersweet nightshade...we will see how it all holds up.
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