Never so warm

The winners and losers of early spring

Hardly ever has it bloomed and hummed as early as this year. Never since 1768 has February been so warm. Everything is now two to three weeks earlier on average and this year even a whole month earlier. What do long-time nature observers say about the phenomenon? Who are the winners and who are the losers?

At the beginning of the month, as soon as the last remnants of snow had melted, the first bumblebees - which are considered much less sensitive to the cold than bees and are therefore important pollinators - were buzzing through the unusually balmy air. The moles were also awakened by the inner drive and threw the first mounds into the gardens. Delicate lemon butterflies, which are known to survive the winter frozen by a kind of internal antifreeze, were and are free from the ice.

In Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer in the heart of Salzburg, farmer and long-time weather observer Horst Nöbl (82) has registered an unprecedented phenomenon: