On a global scale, 2014 was the warmest year ever recorded but climate change is complicated on the local level.  In Pittsburgh we’ve changed into yo-yo extremes.

Pittsburgh’s last two winters were colder than normal but three years ago it was really hot.  Spring came six weeks late in 2014 and six weeks early in 2012.   This photo of leaves opening on March 25, 2012 is impossible during this year’s cold spring.

I noticed the changes in 2012 but wouldn’t have remembered them if I hadn’t taken a picture.  That’s the beauty of keeping a nature journal and it caught the attention of climate journalist Julia Kumari Drapkin.  She noticed that local experience of climate change is ahead of the science curve and often raises interesting questions so she decided to flip the typical reporting model and founded the iSeeChange crowd-sourced almanac.  Everyday observations and questions now become radio stories.

Fast forward to 2015 and iSeeChange has radio partners across the U.S. and in Africa.  The Allegheny Front joined last month so now western Pennsylvanians can record what we see and ask questions about what’s going on in our area.

Last month I signed up for iSeeChange as a quick way to record the signs of spring.  In Pittsburgh it’s been cold and variable (click here for the Allegheny Front’s story) but the weather’s different out West.  Colorado is hot and already has mosquitoes!

You can contribute, too.  As Julia says, “Everyone’s an expert in his own backyard.”  Click here to join the iSeeChange almanac.

Post your observations. Upload photos and sound clips. Ask about what puzzles you.

Outdoor changes are always interesting.  Maybe yours will be on the radio.

Listen to The Allegheny Front in Pittsburgh on WESA-FM 90.5 every Saturday at 7:30am and on other stations in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia at the times listed here.  You can also listen any time online at The Allegheny Front.

(photo by Kate St. John)