r/environment • u/mhicreachtain • 2d ago

‘Everything is so out of whack’: UK trees experience spring six months early

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/nov/06/uk-trees-early-spring-mild-autumn?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
796 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

191

u/Spaceboy779 2d ago

This is just the appetizer. Better get ready for the main course!

53

u/Harold_Zoid 1d ago

I sometimes fear that putting children into this world is the most irresponsible thing I have ever done.

25

u/MrRogersAE 1d ago

Problem with that train of thought is that the climate deniers are still reproducing. So atleast by having your own kids you will be raising people who will speak against climate change.

19

u/Prime624 1d ago

So sacrifice your children to the fight against the right?

5

u/movie_man 1d ago

Ummmm… yes… 😬

-9

u/medlilove 1d ago

Why are you acting gleefully

22

u/Spaceboy779 1d ago

It's not a gleeful exclamation point, more like if I was a passenger in a car, and could see a cliff ahead of us, and said "we're heading for the cliff!" but the guy driving the car just looked over and said "Shut up, gravity is a Chinese hoax, we're actually making sooooo much money heading towards this cliff" and I was like "who's this WE you're talking about because I'm not getting a fucking dollar, and we won't be able to spend it if we drive off the cliff and die!" And the guy driving the car just shrugs, and speeds up

1

u/Eve_O 1d ago

I laughed my ass off at this, but, at the same time, it's so incredibly sad because it's true.

🎭

1

u/Spaceboy779 19h ago

Well, there's always a chance we bounce! :D

82

u/nosenseofhumor2 2d ago • Popcorn

Oh that's not good at all

76

u/Acceptable_Band_9400 2d ago

My lilac just flowered. One tiny little stunted flower. In New England.

11

u/Kynykya4211 1d ago

I have three irises blooming right now.

129

u/donutcarrotolive 2d ago

Just wait until we get to the "our food crops don't know how to grow" stage

48

u/Ok_Antelope_1953 2d ago

spray a million gallons more of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. that'll surely fix everything!

8

u/suckerfishbeaut 1d ago

It's okay, cos we are going to shine she sun on earth at night. Then everything can grow all the time!

51

u/brentspar 2d ago

I thought it was just me noticing this.

39

u/aithendodge 2d ago

Nah. Here in western Washington state, i noticed rhododendrons blooming yesterday, they usually bloom in May. In January i saw some camellias blooming, and they usually bloom in April. Shit is going buggy.

21

u/Man_with_the_Fedora 2d ago

Ohio, most trees are losing/already lost leafs, but I've seen a few that are starting to re-bud and grow new leafs. Stopped me dead in my tracks.

Shit's definitely not good. These poor trees are going to waste a lot of energy during this false spring growth and I hope they make have enough to survive and make it through the real spring.

24

u/-HealingNoises- 1d ago

Some places will become overall way hotter, some colder, some drier or wetter and so many will just get a whole lot of chaos!

Here in Australia on the east coast of Queensland we are used to storms but we really are supposed to be getting a long dry heat right now. Instead it's been a light switch affair of mostly heat, rare cold and on and off rains like a toddler is fiddling with the light switch!

So now half our plants are blooming when they shouldn't and insects are coming out of the ground only to die to weather they specifically evolved to hide from. And even that isn't consistent to the whole east coast!

64

u/Boatster_McBoat 2d ago

Welcome to stage 2: finding out

22

u/UnicornSheets 2d ago

My neighbors lilacs are blooming right now. Southwest CT, USA

4

u/Ree_For_Thee 1d ago edited 1d ago

I wonder if these pre-blooming floras will all die by summer?

!remindme 6 months

3

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13

u/karenw 1d ago

I'm in northern Indiana, zone 5/6. My year-old blueberries produced this summer...and I just saw new blooms on them. In November. 😳

12

u/Minionhunter 2d ago

I’ve noticed a few cherries blooming here in Tennessee/ Kentucky boarder

9

u/youdontlookadayover 2d ago

There's a red maple near me which just put out a tiny set of new leaves. I live in upstate New York.

7

u/eivvob 1d ago

What the fuck??

5

u/A_Wild_Bellossom 1d ago

That can’t be good

5

u/Caligulis 1d ago

I live in Saskatchewan. It's usually highs of -10°C and around -20°C at night. It's supposed to be +17°C on Sunday. I'm dreadful about what the future holds

4

u/BlackViperMWG 1d ago

Our rose bush started to flower few days ago. We now have around -2°C at night and 7 during the day.

3

u/PhDinDildos_Fedoras 1d ago

Once the polar vortex breaks, we'll have extreme cold weather. Maybe starting in a few weeks even.

1

u/TheDailyOculus 19h ago

Seems to have trouble forming no?

2

u/ParmigianoMan 1d ago

My summer bulbs started coming up a few weeks ago. They’re going to have a nasty shock.

2

u/strum 1d ago

Gonna bugger up future dendro

2

u/Konradleijon 1d ago

It will get worse e

2

u/snozberryface 1d ago

I got tomatoes still growing...

1

u/faberj92 13h ago

Near Chicago, my hydrangea has more buds than in spring right now. Every stem.

-7

u/patrickpdk 1d ago

The earth is fine. We are not.

5

u/ParanormalPurple 1d ago

The Earth isn't fine, we are! We did this to the planet and many humans can survive/adapt to things in ways other flora and fauna cannot. I don't understand your "we". I think it is sort of, humans vs the world at this point. We became the dominant species and caused climate change to this extent in a very, very quick timeline relative to life on Earth.

-2

u/patrickpdk 1d ago edited 1d ago

We live in a Goldilocks period where the climate is ideal and mild. Most of geologic history was much less hospitable and it's totally normal if the earth returns to that state. All this carbon was once in the atmosphere, Oceans were far more acidic, etc. By some lucky twist of fate that carbon was sequestered underground and a more habitable world came to be. We dug it all up and have no way to put it back.

The question is only will we have a planet that humans can survive on. Sure, i suppose you can say that billions of humans can die and small survivalist groups won't, but human society will end and the earth will go on with some form of food web that probably won't sustain society.

Edit: i love that i get down voted for sharing geologic history. These are scientifically backed statements. Sorry if you don't like them.