A month ago Heidi Cullen, the hardest working weatherperson around, penned a NY Times op-ed about the least known proof of global warming, phenology:
The climatologist Mark D. Schwartz at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and colleagues at the USA National Phenology Network have developed an index that can be used to estimate the date of the onset of the spring growing season (as opposed to the date in March when daylight and darkness are of equal length, the technical definition of the first day of spring, which falls on Tuesday). This “first leaf” index estimates the first day that leaves appear on plants. Here in the lower 48, spring now arrives approximately three days earlier. “First leaf” has gone from March 20 (1951-1980 average) to March 17 (1981-2010 average). This forward creep is consistent with the effects of an overall warming climate, roughly 1.4 degrees over the past century, what we refer to as global warming.
Winter 2012 will go down as the fourth warmest on record for the contiguous United States, according to the National Climatic Center. And so far, March will be remembered for the more than 2,200 warm temperature records that were set around the nation. The warm weather, with daytime high temperatures close to 40 degrees above average in some places (high temperature records are outpacing cold records by a ratio of about 19-to-1 so far this March), set the stage for severe thunderstorms that spawned rare, damaging tornadoes near Detroit. It used to be that a warm day in March felt like a gift, but now it feels as if we’re paying for it.
We're now up to 15,000 heat records broken around the country this spring. Still no mention of Midwestn heat wave at climate change denier central, Watts Up With That, even though according to NOAA the first three months of this year were the warmest on record.
Scrolled through a search for all of March at the hackish Watts Up With That, and all I found was a mention of a mild winter nationally, sourced at NASA, and numerous posts about cold and snow in the Pacific Northwest. What's up with that, Anthony?
Guess he must've overlooked the heating, somehow. Lost it in the couch.
Kit Stolz 
What’s saddening is that we are paying the price for the damage our acts have contributed. While some are thinking it is unlikely to happen but here it is – part of the proof you are looking.
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