Weather, the Jet Stream, and trees

The weather is back to overcast rainy days. At least the temperature is over 60 degrees F. We had our two or three days of summer last week. Temperatures jumped 25 degrees F overnight. At least the plants were happy.

We had to move the start of our 20 week CSA back two full weeks (did this three weeks ago) because of the cold weather. There was frost on the ground May 3. This is unusual in Kitsap County because we have a maritime climate, that while about 10 degrees F cooler than Seattle, is fairly warm. By mid-April we should have had consistent temperatures in the high 60's during the day, and in the mid-40's at night. From March on we should have been in the high 50's to low 60's in the day and low-40's at night.

This all may be due to the Jet Stream moving northward and weakening. MSNBC had an article on this April 21, 2008 Jet stream moving north, weather shifts likely. There have been several articles on this topic. If you have more information on this, please leave the links in the comment section.

I have no idea if global climate change is a natural phenomena or man-made, but it is probably due to a combination of the two.

People wanting to change the man-made problems are trying a number of remedies. In Pellston, Michigan, scientists have begun what will be a decades long test concerning tree varieties and the atmosphere. Scientists starve aspen trees in global warming experiment. This one is both curious and compelling. Trying to offset man-made change may be the fastest answer.

We sold out of our CSA shares two weeks before we originally intended to start. The demand for local food is increasing.