Spring came early in Nashville. That could be a problem for pollinators.

Springtime can mean many things: blossoming daffodils and tulips, a dawn symphony of wrens, or perhaps a surge in bunnies around the neighborhood. 

Officially, the National Phenology Network tracks spring in the U.S. by monitoring the leaves and then blooms of lilacs and honeysuckles. This year, most of Tennessee recorded leaves from these plants about two to three weeks earlier than average.

Nashville sprouted leaves by Feb. 10, marking the third-earliest leaf out on record since at least 1981, according to the network.

Courtesy National Phenology Network

Leaves on honeysuckles and lilacs arrived between two and three weeks early across much of Tennessee this year.

Last month was the third-warmest February in Nashville on record and nearly seven degrees warmer than the 30-year climate normal.

Nashville experienced the second-warmest February on record last year after a hot January — leading to the city’s earliest spring bloom of lilac and honeysuckle on March 9, 2023. These plants have not yet bloomed in Nashville this year, but the southernmost parts of the state are starting to see blooms.

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Spring has been popping up early in other ways in the city. Bluebell buds covered the hills of Warner Park this month while yellow wood violets, a woodland wildflower, began blooming a month early, according to naturalist Jessa Tremblay. 

“It feels like some wildflowers are popping up a little earlier this year than last year, and last year was already early,” Tremblay said. 

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Garden hyacinths are non-native species that bloom in early spring.

Tremblay says early spring blooms can cause a ripple effect on ecosystems and the food web, given that many insects, pollinators and birds rely on early spring wildflowers for survival. 

“If the food source comes up too early and is gone by the time the thing that needs that food source wakes up, that’s a problem,” Tremblay said. 

Alternately, some flowers bloom based on the amount of sunlight, so insects that exit hibernation early during warm spells might also be mismatched with their food source and face starvation.

Earth breaks temperature records for nine consecutive months

The trend of earlier springs is mostly tied to warmer winters, and moisture can also affect the timing of some blooms. Tennessee has been getting warmer and wetter, on average, because of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and animal agriculture. 

Earth has been exceptionally hot this past year, with February likely the ninth consecutive record-warm month. The planet has also been hotter recently because of El Niño, a weather pattern defined by warming in the Pacific Ocean that set in last June.