Lately, spring and autumn are getting shorter. Blossoms and leaves fall shortly after coloring the streets. The culprit to this change is global warming. Seasons become warmer and less predictable. Fall starts later and winter is becoming shorter. Consequences follow these changes, from increased electricity bills to deaths. What exactly has happened to earth in the past decades?

Through five decades of satellite observations, climate researchers have identified that spring began around 15 days earlier than it had before. Earlier spring means earlier and longer growing seasons, putting plants at risk from spring frosts and summer drought. Drought causes severe stress to plants, vegetation, and escalates the possibility of forest fires. Summer also has lengthened. Longer, boiling summer results in higher humidity, which makes it harder for our body to decrease the body temperature and adjust to the weather. This increases a/c use and electricity bills which may be economically burdensome for some. However, there is a worse outcome: extreme weather events. Storms will happen more often as hot weather increases precipitation, in ways like evaporation of ocean water. Droughts and blazers are also said to become intense. 

The growing season mentioned above not only affects spring but autumn as well. It alters patterns of seasonality of vegetation and the timing of biological events, affecting our diets. Changes in color of the first leaf and timing of flowering and leaf fall could happen too. 

Global warming is smearing into our lives, making differences that may seem little in our lives. However, these changes aren’t slow and are stacking up into significant issues. The effects on seasons is only a small portion of the problem.