The meteorological spring has left Umeå behind as the average temperature was above zero for seven days in a row.
“It was a pretty cold winter that involved a stubborn block of high pressure, but it eased just in time for when we normally have spring,” says Magnus Joelsson, climatologist at SMHI.
But what is normal is changing. In the 2020s, winter subsided significantly earlier than in the second half of the 20th century. In Svealand and Götaland, spring is now coming about two weeks earlier, an analysis of SMHI climate data reviewed by TT shows.
– It’s simply because we have a warming climate. Temperatures are now higher than before at the same time of year, says Joelsson.
The differences are clear. In the last century, spring was welcomed in mid-March in cities like Västerås, Örebro, Norrköping and Visby. In the 2020s, this happens on average at the end of February.
On Öland, farmer Göran Wilén notices the changes. There will be a time difference.
– You sow a little earlier in the spring and then the harvest takes place a little earlier in the fall.
These days he often has time to plant a catch crop that fixes nitrogen before autumn sowing.
The biggest difference Wilén notices is that corn has become a common crop among neighbors.
– In the mid-90s, only a few enthusiasts began working with corn, with mixed results. Today it is a very big harvest, he says.
A station that Particularly noteworthy is Kiruna, where spring came even later in the 2020s. This is because it occurs in May when temperature fluctuations are less than in February and March. From February to April, the city experiences a warmer climate, but not enough to be considered spring.
“It’s a bit funny and has to do with how you define the seasons,” says Joelsson.
And even though it may be meteorologically spring at the beginning of the year, it may not feel like it because the sun will still shine even if it is not there.
– Seasonal definitions are starting to drift apart a bit, we can still have summer in October even if we don’t experience it as summer. It can happen that spring is not so easy to experience.
