Spring plants blossom early due to warm temperatures

It’s starting to feel a lot like spring in Merced and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley, and that’s because temperatures are about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year, according to local weather officials.

Modesto Vasquez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, explained that an amplified ridge in the eastern Pacific Ocean is creating high pressure along the West Coast and keeping the storms north of California.

Vasquez said that although it’s typical for temperatures to increase somewhat in February, the low to mid-70s temperatures felt over the Presidents Day weekend is well above average. Temperatures are expected to continue in the high 60s through the rest of the week, before dropping to more seasonal levels by the weekend, Vasquez said.

According to the National Weather Service website, Merced residents can expect highs of up to 65 degrees and lows of 43 degrees over the weekend.

Although meteorologists anticipate cooler temperatures will pull in by the end of the week, they can’t say the same about rain. “There’s not a lot of confidence at this point about precipitation,” Vasquez said. “As of now there’s no rain in sight.”

So far during the month of February, the Merced area has received 1.03 inches of rain. From Oct. 1, the beginning of the rain season, to Tuesday, Merced has received 5.80 inches, when the normal level for the season is 7.39 inches.

There’s a slight chance of weekend rain in the Sierra Nevada, where the snowpack is at about 18 percent to 25 percent of normal levels, Vasquez said. On Tuesday, at Lodgepole Campgrounds, where snow levels are tracked at about 6,000 feet of elevation, meteorologists had recorded only 2 inches of snow.

Amid the springlike temperatures, many plants are blooming ahead of schedule. Kris Randal, coordinator of the Master Gardner program in Merced and Mariposa counties, said native, wild and garden plants are blooming between two weeks and a month early.

“The warm weather is telling them it’s time to bloom,” Randal said. She also said she has noticed an increase in insect activity.

While the weather is pleasant to most, the continuation of above average temperatures is killing pine trees in the foothills, Randal said: “If you drive to the mountains, you will see patches of brown dead pine trees.” She explained that with the fourth consecutive dry year, the trees have become too weak to fight off bark beetles.

“In the long run, this is going to be a real problem,” she added.

Meanwhile, many local gardeners are making the best of the weather to get a head start on growing vegetables and fruits, hoping for an early harvest.

Roger Price, an employee at Merced Gardens and Nursery on Tahoe Street, said tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatillos are some of the most popular crops during spring. Price said people will typically wait until the beginning of March to start growing these plants. The current weather is ideal, however, and gardeners want to take full advantage of it.

Price said those who get an early start can double their harvest. However, both Price and Randal recommend that growers wait at least until the end of February, in order to avoid the risk of losing plants to frost, which can cause a lot of damage to new leaves and flowers.

Price suggests that gardeners be alert to any possible change in weather patterns and keep frost cloths at hand, just in case temperatures drop below 40 degrees.

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Spring plants blossom early due to warm temperatures."