ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
This past winter is estimated to be in the top 20 percent of warmest winters ever in Virginia.
The warm, sunny days of the past two weeks and the daffodils popping up all over are ushering in springtime well before its official starting date on March 20.
But the seasonal turn is coming a little too early for the state's fruit growers, ski lodge operators and allergy sufferers.
``Early spring is not something we like to see,'' said Richard Marini, who researches tree fruit production at Virginia Tech. ``In the Piedmont area, peaches are already starting to bloom. The earlier they bloom, the better the potential for frost injury.''
Marini said frost on blooms can destroy entire crops, causing millions of dollars in damage. This year's bloom is the earliest he has seen in his 12 years as a Virginia horticulturist, he said.
Daffodils - a flower many associate with spring - are blooming about 10 days earlier than usual, and three weeks earlier than last year, said state climatologist Patrick Michaels.
Though statistics for this winter are not in yet, Michaels estimated it is in the top 20 percent of warmest winters ever in Virginia.
The sparse snowfall and warm temperatures this year were bad news for Virginia ski operators.
``When you're talking about skiing in Virginia, you never know what cards mother nature is going to deal from one season to the next,'' said Mark Glickman, spokesman for the Wintergreen resort in Nelson County.
The warm weather drove the ski resort to end its season on Monday, about a week earlier than usual and two weeks earlier than last year, said Glickman, who also is president of the Ski Virginia Association.
The slow season was disappointing for ski operators coming off a record season last year because of heavy snowfall, said Glickman.
Most ski operators estimate a 15 percent drop in attendance compared to last year, he said.
Allergy specialists are seeing the opposite reaction.
Dr. Elaine Turner, an asthma, allergy and immunology specialist in Henrico, said her patient load in January and February was double its usual number.
She said the warm winter means wheezing, sneezing and stuffy noses for patients who have hay fever and asthma.
``I think part of the problem is that we never really had a hard frost this winter so the mold count never had a chance to get wiped out,'' she said. ``So we're still having mold, and now we're starting to get tree pollen.''
But allergy sufferers, ski resort owners and fruit growers cursing the balmy days can take comfort in the knowledge that it could have been worse.
In the winter of 1931-32, temperatures in February were in the 80s, and those in December and January broke records.
``That year is the standard against which all other warm winters in the mid-Atlantic region are measured,'' said Michaels. ``There was almost no snow, and the trees began budding in January.''
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB