Ask a Climatologist: Tracking “green up” in Fairbanks

(Graphic from Brian Brettschneider)Trees and shrubs are starting to turn green in much of Alaska. But Fairbanks is the only community in the state with an historical record tracking the green up date.
Jim Anderson, a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor, started collecting the data in the 1970s. He also came up with a lovely definition: “Birch and aspen leaves open just enough to produce a faint but distinct green flush through the forest canopy.”
These days the National Weather