Early Spring in Oslo, Late Spring in Porto

Spring came early to Oslo this year. Some five weeks early to be exact. The evidence for this can be seen on how green all the trees have become. Compared to the typical mid-May picture of Oslo, the amount of green in April was ahead by more than a month. As I write this, Oslo looks more like it usually looks in June, rather than May.

Southern Norway has been caught in a prolonged spell of warmer than normal weather, and the evidence is clear as day.

The same cannot be said about Porto, which has been caught up in one cold spell after another. Spring has been unusually wet and cool, and this has led to a later than normal spring. The evidence for this is not as easy to spot as in Oslo, but I have flowers on my balcony that can be used for this.

I took this picture of my bougainvillea on April 30 2021, and we're still not that far. I'd say we need another week before it reaches this level of lushness, so that means that spring has been delayed by three weeks down here.

Bougainvillea April 30, 2021

So, Oslo is ahead by five weeks and Porto is delayed by three weeks. This should come as no surprise because our planet on the whole doesn't change its temperature by more than a few decimals of a degree from one year to another. If one area is warmer than normal, other areas have to be cooler.

It's impossible to say anything conclusive about the climate based on any one extreme, because there are for sure other extremes other places weighing the balance the other way.