Hot spots

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Where has winter been?

Until this week, many residents were wondering if the season simply ceased to exist. Those wool-knit sweaters have rested in the closet next to the snow boots for far longer than usual.

Wearing shorts in January has not been the only effect of the warm temperatures these past few months. For proof, one only needed to venture outdoors.

Take, for example, a slice of green space at Front Street and Washington Avenue. Winter Jasmine, considered a vine or viny shrub, has yellow flowers that typically begin blossoming in March. Currently, these plants are in full bloom.

"Some plants bloom in response to the warmer weather and some bloom in response to daylight and some bloom in response to both," Marilyn Romenesko, project manager and staff horticulturist with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, said. "This one is one that blooms in response to weather."

Autumnal cherry trees at a space owned by Interstate Land Management, Front and Queen streets, also are being tricked into a spring fever and have begun budding fruit.

Walking her dog a few blocks nearby Tuesday, Jane (who declined to give her last name), of Front and Bainbridge streets, dropped her jaw upon hearing the news of the blooming tree.

"It’s nice, but it scares the s— out of me," Jane said, adding she has noticed an abnormally large population of flies swarming around the area lately.

Is Romenesko also surprised by what she has seen? "Not with the weather the way it’s been," she said.

The temperatures this "winter," which officially began Dec. 21, have not been the norm. With an average daily maximum of nearly 50 degrees last month, Philadelphia saw its sixth warmest December on record (the hottest was in 1923). The month’s mean average of 39 degrees was seven degrees above normal.

The city’s sixth warmest year was 2006, with a mean temperature of 57.46 (’31 takes the top spot), according to the National Weather Service. And who could forget the record-breaker during the Mummers’ Parade Jan. 6, when the mercury rose to a whopping 73 degrees?

Romenesko said she has witnessed "temperature extremes" over the past five to 10 years, but is unsure what to attribute this phenomenon to. Last year was deemed the United States’ hottest by the National Climate Data Center. Thinking long term, the horticulturist envisions the area’s larger plants — trees and shrubs — having the hardest time acclimating to a steady warmth.

"If they mutated to adjust to new climate conditions, it would take much longer to do that because their life cycle is so much longer," she said.

Romenesko even sees another future: "We might have to start looking at plants that are normally grown farther south to grow in our area if the temperatures continue to warm up like they have been."

Numerous messages left with the Fairmount Park Commission’s district office seeking comment about changes at local parks were not returned by press time.

The warmer temperatures also can bring about positive aspects — such as lower heating bills. The spring-like weather also has kept lawns growing while strengthening roots in the process.

In addition, "any bloom that we can enjoy during the middle of the cool, dark, short winter days" is typically welcomed by residents, Romenesko added.

But Sharon Rubbo of Girard Estate doesn’t mind the cold, evident while she walked in FDR Park this week as the temperatures began to drop.

"I’m like a winter person," she said as she jogged with her husband, Anthony. "I want the winter so I can enjoy the spring when the spring comes."

Yet some experts think steamier seasons are what’s in store for our planet. Through mounting evidence, environmentalists and scientists alike think global warming is probably the culprit for warmer days. The Earth’s atmospheric temperature rise might be attributed to the greenhouse effect, in which gases like carbon dioxide absorb and trap energy emitted by the sun’s rays, thus heating the planet.

"We can’t attribute any specific heat wave or any month to global warming," Nathan Willcox, energy and clean-air advocate for PennEnvironment, said. "With that said, winters above average and summers hotter than normal is consistent with what will be happening with global warming. Within the larger trend, we are seeing a definite warming trend over the years."

According to the nonprofit’s ’06 report "Feeling the Heat," the 10 warmest years on global record have all occurred since ’90, and ’05 was the hottest.

However, Bill Christ, forecaster with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J., that tracks Philadelphia’s weather, did not attribute the area’s recent warmth to a global phenomenon.

"It’s just a general trend in weather this winter," Christ said last week. "If you go to the records, there are warm periods like this, too. It can dramatically change within the next couple of weeks."

And that it did. While Tuesday saw a record high of 62 degrees, temperatures had plummeted to 28 degrees by midnight.

Regardless of the reason for a late, almost nonexistent season, resident Kathy Dilonardo isn’t complaining. The co-chairwoman of the Southwark/Queen Village Community Garden, 311-313 Christian St., recently snagged some leaf lettuce and swiss chard.

The vegetables "grow until you get a really hard frost," Dilonardo, of the 200 block of Monroe Street, said. "That would normally be by the first week of December, at the latest. Here I was picking it Jan. 10."

However, she wasn’t as thrilled about seeing daffodils so early in the year. Once they bloom, Dilonardo said, "there’s no bud in the bulb until next year" — meaning they won’t bloom again when spring officially arrives.

It’s a minor setback for the resident, who normally would visit the garden a few times in January. Now, she’s going a few times a week.

"After two days of the cool weather, I’m ready for it be warm again," Dilonardo said. "I enjoy going down to the garden and poking around to see what’s happening."