Winter ain't what it used to on Martha's Vineyard island off Massachusetts. Our warming world means fewer truly cold days. And islanders connect those warmer days with an increasing infestation with disease bearing ticks, both long present Lyme disease carriers and the new Lone Star variety that brings the Alpha-gal allergy syndrome.
An islander created this chart showing the frequency of freezing winter temperatures:
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| Click to enlarge. |
With all the recent posts about the tick population on the island, and a body of entomology research indicating that warmer winter temperatures lead to less seasonal tick die off, I thought I would look at the trends in the number of cold days seen here each winter over the past few decades. This plot shows the number of days when the minimum temperature at MVY [airport] falls below various levels. Data are shown since 1970 and are from the official weather observing station at the airport. This shows that winters are not as cold as they used to be, with the number of days below freezing now about 15 fewer than 1970, and the number of days below 15F about half as many days as we saw back then.
The ticks are thriving on the rodents that carry them through the warmer winters. From the rats, they move on to the deer population in the spring. One consequence of the increasing tick population is that a great many of the hunters who used to thin the deer herd during hunting season have become allergic to meat following Lone Star tick bites -- leading to less hunting.
Ah, climate change. Can humans adjust?
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