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Harpers Ferry is a historic West Virginia city and international tourist hub. But four years ago the national park and surrounding town were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spring has sprung early, according to the annual Status of Spring report from the USA National Phenology Network.
Phenology is the study of seasonal change and the network tracks when leaves sprout as heat accumulates across the nation.
According to the network’s 2023 report, spring leaves sprouted 20 days earlier than usual in Appalachia.
Appalachia is not alone in its early spring as parts of the southeast, lower Midwest, and mid-Atlantic are seeing either the earliest spring on record or a spring that only occurs once every 40 years.
Without a harsh enough winter, plants adapt and respond as they have for millennia. Spring leaf out continues to spread north, arriving several days to weeks earlier than average in much of the nation.
At the beginning of each calendar year, nature responds to gradual heat accumulation in the earth’s atmosphere. When the daily average is above freezing, plants and animals act accordingly, preparing to grow.
While a mild winter is enjoyable to some, without low temperatures plants sprout earlier, disrupting gardeners’ and farmers’ crops.
This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust belt and even the Northeast. The Appalachian Regional Commission defined the boundaries for Appalachia in 1965 with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commision, a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was legislation that sought to expand social welfare, and some localities were eager for the money, while others resisted the designation. The boundaries and definition of Appalachia can now only be changed by an act of Congress.
On this West Virginia Morning, amidst a flurry of vaccine legislation, Appalachia Health News Reporter Emily Rice spoke with Dr. Susan Flesher, professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Marshall University, for a conversation about vaccination laws in West Virginia.
A report earlier this month from the Sierra Club shows that in 2022 and 2023, BlackRock bought more than $45 million in bonds issued by EQT Corporation.
The start-up was built on the idea of using cutting-edge technology and local workers to produce vegetables on an industrial scale. And this was all set to happen in eastern Kentucky, where the company’s founder said this new version of agriculture could help replace the fading coal industry. AppHarvest got a lot of attention — from national media, politicians and investors. But then, last year, the company filed for bankruptcy.