Have we skipped March and went right to July? Today we got a blast of heat from the southwest pushing highs way above normal into the 80s and even Iowa’s first 90 of the season at Sioux City. Record highs for the date were broken or tied including at Des Moines with a tied record high of 84.F. My station about 6 miles Southwest of the airport managed to reach 85.F briefly. How weird are these temperatures? Normal first 80+ highs of the season usually waits until at least a month later than this and these very warm temperatures came after a week of several well above average days in the 70s. Typical high is around 50.F this time of year and we’ll cool back closer to that level starting tomorrow. I will list the highs temperatures seen for today followed by this weeks spring growth update.
High temperatures March 16th 2015
South & Central Iowa
Cumming-My Station 85.F
Des Moines Airport 84.F ( Record Tied )
Osceola 84.F
Chariton 84.F
Knoxville 84.F
Pella 84.F
Ankeny 84.F
Perry 84.F
Boone 84.F
Ames 83.F
Creston 82.F
Newton 82.F
Marshalltown 82.F
Elsewhere
Sioux City 90.F ( Record Broken )
Omaha/Council Bluffs 88.F
Shenandoah 86.F
Atlantic 84.F
Lamoni 83.F
Iowa City 82.F
Cedar Rapids 82.F ( Record Tied )
Fort Dodge 82.F
Fairfield 81.F
Waterloo/Cedar Falls 81.F
Quad Cities 78.F
Dubuque 77.F
Algona 75.F
Mason City 74.F
Decorah 73.F
Sheldon 72.F
All this warmth the past week has really pushed plants into coming out of dormancy and at a fast rate as they try to catch up to what feels like has been a week approaching summer in terms of temps. We started out late but we quickly pushed ahead of the spring growth schedule here in southern Iowa. Early tree species such as Silver Maple and Elm have started flowering late last week. Willows have even gone as far as the early leaf out stage. Mid season shrubs and trees such as Redbud, Ornamental Pear, Lilac, Forsythia and Magnolia are just starting to breaking buds which is early for them, they have quite ways to go before blooming. Normal bloom time for these shrubs is early April, They may be early this year. Reports from Northern Iowa tell me Spring Bulbs are up but no trees have started the flowering stage indicating that areas is about two weeks behind the rest of the state, which is a typical difference.
Spring bulbs on the other hand are now back on schedule after a late start. Were still in the early stage with Snowdrops and Crocus still being the main show and now Dutch Crocus has started blooming. Snow Crocus are fading fast with new flowers only lasting a couple of days because they do not like the high heat we’ve had. Mid season bulbs such as Tulips and Daffodils are making very quick progress and have put on several inches of growth this week. The Daffodils will be blooming soon as flowers are above ground and Tulips will soon follow in the next week or two. Seems like one week ago they were just coming up, which might be because its true!
My Winter Aconite finally decided to make an appearance! I had given up on these but they popped up suddenly overnight and started blooming. These should have been the first flower to bloom even before the Crocus but were likely late because new establishing bulbs are usually off their schedule for the first year then go back to a normal schedule the next year. These plants are only about 1″ tall which helps them “hug” the ground for warmth since they are so early.
I love the way the City of Des Moines planted these Crocus on the hillside at a small park at the corner of Grand Ave and 2nd Avenue. yellow Crocus always bloom first since they are a Snow Crocus variety. The purple and white in this grouping follow soon after. If you’re looking for spring beauty right now please check out these and the early spring flowers at the Des Moines Botanical Center.
Here is one final look at the progress of the garden as a whole. In a few short weeks this garden will be bursting with color from the Tulips, Hyacinths and Daffodils you see here. The cooler temperatures are welcome sight since that tends to prolong blooms and if it goes below 32.F I’m not concerned since these can handle that with ease.