Working-class Americans are not the only ones who have fallen back over the course of the past few decades. So has Autumn.
According to Climate Central [ht: db],
Over the past 25 years, the onset of autumn has shifted throughout the lower 48 states, with leaves now staying on trees about 10 days longer than they did in the early 1980s.
Using satellite-based measurements of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which gauges leaf cover over wide areas, researchers at the Seoul National University in South Korea found that the end of the growing season occurred progressively later over the course of their 26-year study. By noting the time of year changes in color occurred most rapidly, the researchers could track when fall started between 1982 and 2008. . .
there is significant variation from year to year, and from region to region. This regional variation is driven by a number of factors: altitude, rainfall and soil conditions are just a few things that play a role. However, by looking at a given region as a whole, and comparing the 5-year average between the start and the end of the study, our analysis found that fall in the continental U.S. now arrives 10.5 days later on average — a shift of about a week and a half.
Something there about climate change, me thinks. . .
