Maine's maple syrup season begins a month early due to global warming

[jpak]

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=114753&catid=2

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - Maple syrup producers are off to an early and busy start this year! Because of the warmer weather we've been having, sap is consistently flowing from trees across Maine.

<snip>

The amount of snow on the ground doesn't really have an effect on syrup producers except for how they get around. Walking through is the easy part, but reaching the sap tubes can be difficult when there isn't four feet of snow to climb. As long as nighttime temperatures reach 20 degrees, and daytime temperatures reach 40, sap season is in full swing.

But Kathy Hopkins, a UMaine Extension educator, is concerned if signs of spring start to come too soon - it could be bad for the industry. "To me, that's the scary thing, is if we see green grass and the snow rapidly receding from the sun and the warm temperatures. If that means that spring is on the way, it means the season is now and it will be over very quickly," Hopkins said.

Steeves is already thinking about Maine Maple Sunday, the 4th Sunday of March. He hopes that spring isn't on its way so he can make the best product possible for as long as possible. "I'm sure that most everyone will be operating at that time and with this early season, there will be lots of nice, fresh maple syrup, which it's best when it's fresh," Steeves said.

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The old timers here say they never have experienced a sap run this early...

global warming sucks

:thumbsdown:

[givemebackmycountry]

1. Yes, global warming does indeed suck but I'll tell what does not...

Nice, fresh maple syrup does not suck and I miss it so.
Having lived in upstate New York, I have had some of this delicious nectar and it is indeed awesome.

[eShirl]

3. seconded!

[kestrel91316]

5. Be careful what you wish for. Hardwood trees that don't get enough

winter chill for dormancy are on a fast track to premature death.

[eShirl]

2. If I didn't have a calendar I'd think it was April. n/t

[jpak]

4. Yup - there is little/no snow in central Maine and many lakes will go out way before April 1st

If it weren't for snowmaking, there would be no skiing either...

global warming sucks

:thumbsdown:

[PavePusher]

6. I know what the problem is...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x232956

Mongolia stole our cold air.

You realize this means war... don't you?


'Cause there's never been a warm spell in New England in the winter... sigh.

[jpak]

7. global warming is *real* and it *sucks*

the end

[PavePusher]

8. Face.Palm. n/t

[Old and In the Way]

9. Here's a graph that correlates nicely with this post - lake iceout dates

The top 4 are Northern Maine lakes and their ice out dates...the bottom 4 are Southern Maine lakes. But there's no evidence of global warming going on...

From this publication-

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3002/


Found this article here: http://tispaquin.blogspot.com/ A fascinating blog on New England geology, archeology, and all- around stories of interest.

[jpak]

10. Who can deny this?

:evilgrin:

(and there was a short paper in Nature back in the early 90's that presented the ice-out data from Moosehead)

:thumbsup:

[Old and In the Way]

11. At the rate those trend lines are dropping, we'll be water skiing on Sebago in February.

[Po_d Mainiac]

12. U gotta pay more contention to the news

The Ice Fishing derby on Sebago was canceled last weekend due to lack of ice...Not sure if there were any water skiers, but there were at least few swimmers. (unintentional types)...

:hi:

[Po_d Mainiac]

13. We had a similar start to spring around 20 yrs ago

By the end of the first week in March, the run was done. So this may be a rare event, but the "Old Timers," refered too above, forgot about a year.

Part of the reason we have an early run is the lack of frost in the woods. We got enough snow to insulate the ground before the hard cold set in. The first day temps got up to 40F + it woke the trees up.

I set my taps out on the 18th, shortly after noon. Boiled most of last week. 66 taps only produced 9 gals of sap since Thursday (25th) due to a severe lack of cold at night. (not good)

The sugar content is lower than I have ever experienced..It's taking closer to 60 gals of raw sap to get a gallon of syrup. It should be in the 40:1 range.

We won't know how the run will be till it's over (when the buds start to tint red)...but `it ain't looking good at the present.

BTW...I'm in the same neighborhood as Steeves

[XemaSab]

14. I had my first swallow of the spring today

2 days after a severe winter storm warning 30 miles from here.

[NNadir]

15. Well, now that we have people here working to make Vermont a dangerous fossil fuel waste

dumping state, things should improve.

Crock tears.

[madokie]

16. And I must say the people of Vermont know how to stop a very dangerous nuke plant, huh

And I love them for it. You know big guy if the nuke industry didn't lie to us all the time maybe some of us would have been willing to not be in opposition to them but long ago the nuke industry made a conscience decision that it would be lies and so we chose to not believe them. Let's see that leaves 103 more to go. Isn't that the correct number now, 103?

[kestrel91316]

17. Obviously the devil screwed up the calendars to make you THINK

the maple syrup season is coming early. Just like those dinosaur fossils put there to make you question the bible's inerrancy. Sheesh.

Now go to church!