Spring green-up lecture scheduled April 10 at UAF

A birch tree leafs out during a previous green-up. Photo by Ned Rozell/
UAF Geophysical Institute

National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Thoman will lecture April 10 on the timing of green-up in Fairbanks and will announce his forecast of this year’s spring leaf-out.

Rick Thoman

His lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Murie Building auditorium. Thoman, the climate science and services manager for the National Weather Service in Alaska, will review past efforts at understanding the timing of green-up in the Fairbanks area, which were based on simple climate records, and will discuss progress in forecasting green-up. Thoman said modern tools hold the potential for longer-range forecasts of environmentally sensitive events, such as green-up, sap flow and even river ice breakup and freeze-up.

The lecture is co-sponsored by OneTree Alaska, a forest education program affiliated with the university's School of Natural Resources and Extension, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Northwest Climate Change Hub. For more information, contact Jan Dawe at 907-474-5907, 907-474-5517 or jan.dawe@alaska.edu.