Spring 10 days earlier on average than four decades ago, growers pay the price

[rcjordan]

Pennsylvania grower starts long slog to orchard recovery
https://www.farmprogress.com/orchard-crops/frozen-out-pennsylvania-grower-starts-long-slog-to-orchard-recovery

[rcjordan]

West Coast:

Warm Winter Wipes Out Southern California's Cherries
https://www.newser.com/story/389412/warm-winter-wipes-out-southern-californias-cherries.html

[grnidone]

Also:  there are armadillos in Russell County, Kansas. As well as Sugar Cane Aphids who eat grain sorghum because we have no sugar cane.

As a kid, I remember you only saw Armadillos in central Oklahoma.

[rcjordan]

>Armadillos

NC Wildlife Dept says they're in the southern part of the state now.

Alligators have been creeping northward along the NC estuaries for 15-20 years now.  One or two have been sighted near the VA line.

[Brad]

>Armadillos

Have been counted in southern Indiana.

No gators, yet.

[rcjordan]

>>armadillo

Don't mess with them.

"People may become infected from other people with untreated leprosy or from the nine-banded armadillo, a natural host of M. leprae."

Leprosy in Florida: Medical experts monitoring unusual, new cases of Hansen's disease » Emerging Pathogens Institute » University of Florida
https://epi.ufl.edu/2023/10/16/leprosy-in-florida-medical-experts-monitoring-unusual-new-cases-of-hansens-disease/

[rcjordan]

Alligator wandering near homes captured by NC wildlife officials

https://www.wect.com/2026/05/21/alligator-wandering-near-homes-captured-by-wildlife-officials/

[ergophobe]

We've seen ticks and poison oak migrate up in elevation over the 23 years we've lived here.

[Travoli]

>Alligator

Alligators live *almost* as far north as VA. Probably have to be on the lookout in Tidewater VA in the 2030s.

[rcjordan]

>2030

Too late.

2011:  Alligator spotted near NC-VA state line | 13newsnow.com
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/alligator-spotted-near-nc-va-state-line/291-375161710

A few years after that, a couple of guys frog-gigging stumbled into a congregation of them in a creek above Morgans Corner, right alongside US 17.  So many cars were stopping on the shoulders to gawk that the HP had to run them off. NCDOT erected closely spaced NO PARKING signs for 4-500 feet.  I believe NC Wildlife eventually had to move them.