LANSING, MI – At a Wednesday press briefing, Michigan research scientists and environmental groups released a survey of scientific literature on global warming's impact on seasons. According to the survey, global warming is disrupting many seasonal patterns and altering crucial ecological cycles. Natural processes like flowers blooming, birds migrating, insects emerging and ice melting are changing due to the influence of global warming, throwing ecological systems in to disarray. Clear the Air and the Michigan Environmental Council, the groups releasing the survey, say it highlights the urgency of the global warming problem and the need for swift congressional action.

"The science is clear: global warming isn't off in the distant future or happening somewhere else, it's happening right here in Michigan and it's happening now." Vicki Levengood, Michigan Representative of the National Environmental Trust.

Close to home, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension Horticulturalist Jim Nugent described how global warming has dramatically decreased ice cover on Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay. Nugent analyzed 150 years of recorded data on the date each winter when the west arm of the bay has frozen. For 130 years, the bay froze over in 85% of winters, but has frozen only 3 winters from 1991 to 2000, and only once since 2001.

"There has been a very precipitous drop off in the last 25 years in terms of the number of years the Grand Traverse Bay has frozen," said Nugent. "Now we're on track for freezing only 20% of the time, in contrast to 85% of the winters through 1980."

Dr. Jeff Andresen, Michigan State Climatologist and Associate Professor of Geography at MSU explains the immediate climate implications when the lake doesn't freeze. "Temperatures since 1980 have increased roughly 2 degrees Fahrenheit," said Andresen, "but during the winter months that increase is more on the order of 4.5-5 degrees Fahrenheit. That is directly associated with lack of ice cover. When we don't have ice pack on the Great Lakes during the winter time, we start our seasonal warm-up earlier."

And that early warm-up is exactly what Michigan's cherry crop doesn't need, according to horticulturalist and cherry grower Jim Nugent.

"We've seen cherries bloom in the Grand Traverse region 6-7 days earlier on average," said Nugent. "In 2002, we experienced record high temperatures in mid April, followed by a cold event a week later. When buds develop early in response to warmer temperatures, they are more susceptible to cold injury. That year we saw the smallest cherry crop the Grand Traverse region has ever produced. There was virtually nothing."

Season Creep: How Global Warming is Already Affecting the World Around Us surveys the latest scientific studies – all peer-reviewed and published in scientific journals – examining seasonal cycles (phenology) and finds that scientists studying the problem are pointing the finger at global warming for a range of effects on wildlife, plants and natural phenomena.

"This survey points to extensive evidence that global warming is already causing changes in the familiar world around us," said David Gard, Energy Policy Director with the Michigan Environmental Council. "Earlier timing of things like tree swallow nesting or lilac blooming may seem unimportant, but ecosystems are delicately balanced and can be vulnerable to even small adjustments."

Some of the already-occurring species and eco-system impacts scientists attribute directly to global warming include:

• Lakes and rivers are freezing six days later and thawing six days earlier;
• Warmer winters are moving the maple syrup season earlier in the year;
• Lilacs and honeysuckle are blooming six days early;
• Northern cardinals are singing 22 days early;
• Canadian geese, robins and whip-poor-wills are arriving earlier;
• Columbine, forest phlox, butterfly weed and shooting star are all blooming earlier;
• The breeding season of birds such as the common murre and Mexican jays is starting early;
• Tree swallows are laying their eggs nine days early;
• Frogs are starting their mating season 12 days early;
• The marine food chain is being disrupted as plankton blooms arrive earlier;
• Spring snow-melt in the Western U.S. is happening 4 weeks earlier than in the mid 20th century.

"Global warming is throwing everything from plants and animals to springtime itself out of sync, but Congress still refuses to deal with the problem," Vicki Levengood, Michigan Representative for the National Environmental Trust. "We need a national policy on global warming that guarantees pollution reductions quickly enough to avert the most dire consequences of global warming."

"Scientists have concluded that we must dramatically reduce heat-trapping pollution to avoid extreme global impacts," said David Gard. "Fortunately, we know how to shift away from fossil fuels and how to use energy more efficiently. The only thing lacking is the political will of our nation's leaders."

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Find Jim Nugent's Grand Traverse Bay ice cover analysis, and a recording of today's press briefing at: www.cleartheair.org/seasoncreep/index.vtml#michigan

Find the survey "Season Creep" at www.cleartheair.org

"Grand Traverse Bay - Freezing by Decade" graph (below) provided by Jim Nugent, District Horticulturalist, MSU Extension.