USGS: “Get your flip-flops and shorts out because spring is arriving very early this year . . . at least 2-3 weeks early across almost the entire Southeast, from San Antonio to Atlanta to Washington, D.C.  This unusually early spring is likely to keep rolling north, already bringing surprising signs of spring to portions of the central Midwest and northeastern states… A new set of scientifically backed maps produced by the USGS-led USA National Phenology Network shows just how unusually early spring is arriving in the United States. 2017. (Public domain.) Even Punxsutawaney Phil can’t be blamed for being baffled this year and hightailing it back to his burrow. He predicted six more weeks of winter on Feb 2, but by then spring was already springing well ahead of historical norms in much of the USA.  While we’ve known for over a decade now that climate change is variably advancing the onset of spring across the United States, a new set of maps from the USGS-led USA National Phenology Network now demonstrates just how ahead of schedule spring is in your precise neck of the woods. The scientifically reviewed maps and the data behind them show that you may want to keep your shorts and flip-flops handy because spring is already knocking at your door, in some places three weeks ahead of schedule. Here’s a quick national overview: spring is now making an appearance in coastal California, southern Nevada, southeastern Colorado, central Kansas, Missouri, southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. And it’s rolling up across West Virginia and Virginia, soon to hit Philly and Indianapolis, but it’s already sprung – days ago — across the southern Great Plains and SE Atlantic Coast, and it was 22 days early in Washington, DC!…”