Phenology

Observations by Gary Fewless for Green Bay WI (Lat.N 44.51° Long. W 88.02° ), except as noted. For flowers lacking conspicuous petals or sepals I define "anthesis" as release of pollen by mature anthers.

November 2003

Observations by Gary Fewless, except as noted

Date	Observation (Click on links for photos)
Nov 30	Preliminary Wisconsin DNR reports for the gun deer season estimate the number of deer registered at about 300, 000, about 8-9 % above last years hunt. That is a lot of deer, but the estimate of total number of deer before the season began was 1,400,000. That would leave 1,100,000 deer remaining, with the potential to produce about 2 fawns per doe next Spring. A mild winter could result in a deer herd even larger than that of Fall 2003.
Nov 26	Here are three snapshots of a prairie community on UWGB's Cofrin Arboretum, from the end of last winter through summer and into fall (today). Sometimes we forget how dramatic the changes are.
Nov 24	UWGB's Prairie Pond has frozen over again. A cold and windy day with a low temperature of 18 F.
Nov 23	Rainy and windy weather and the absence of snow may have hampered deer hunters in Wisconsin this opening weekend of the gun deer season. Deer registrations are down significantly in some northeastern counties.
Nov 20	Wisconsin DNR estimates there are 1.4 million whitetail deer in Wisconsin. The gun deer season begins Saturday (Nov 22). Concerns about danger to people from chronic wasting disease in deer appear to have diminished, as the number of registered hunters has increased compared to last year. Today's high temperature of 62F ties the record high for this date.
Nov 19	Here is the leaf color change and leaf fall sequence for the same green ash trees shown in yesterday's leafout sequence. The full sequence occurs in 22 days, but most of the color change and leaf fall occurred in just 7 days, from Oct 8 to 15. It appears that the effective growing season for green ash this year was roughly108 days (15.5 weeks) from May 27 to Oct 8. The weather has warmed considerably this week. This is our third day of temperatures rising above 50F.
Nov 18	Here is a photo sequence of leafout for green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) on UWGB in 2003. Notice that the full leafout occurred within 20 days and most of the development occurred within 12 days, from May 22 to June 3. Tomorrow: leaf color change for the same trees.
Nov 14	Here is the photo sequence of fall leaf color change for the same Red and white oaks shown yesterday. If you place the cursor over the photo an icon will appear to allow you to enlarge the photo. Most of the red oak's color change occurred over a 4 week period, but the white oak leaves changed color much faster
Nov 13	Here is a photo sequence showing leaf-out on red oak (Quercus rubra) and white oak (Q. alba) on the UW-Green Bay Cofrin Arboretum last spring. Most of the leaf-out occurred within about 2 weeks. Notice that on May 27 the red oak still has some of the previous year's leaves on the branches. Tomorrow's entry will present the fall leaf color sequence for the same trees.
Nov 11	The high temperature in Green Bay was 53 F today. The ice has melted on UWGB's Prairie Pond (see Nov 8).
Nov 9	More cold air. Today's low of 13F was a record low temperature for this date in Green Bay.
Nov 8	An overnight low temperature of 11F in Green Bay. On UWGB's Cofrin Arboretum the "Prairie Pond" froze completely over during the night of the 7/8. Sometimes the ice cover melts one or more times before it finally stays for the winter. Since 1996 the date to freeze and stay frozen is usually mid-November (10-26), the earliest previous was Nov 10 and the latest was December 18(!) in 2001. [note, the weather warmed up and the ice melted by the 14th]
Nov 7	Arctic cold air moves into the Great Lakes area. The low temperature of 16 F in Green bay is the lowest of this Fall to date. Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) is rapidly dropping its leaves in Green Bay.
Nov 5	The leaves are mostly off in some woods, especially where green ash and box elder are abundant, but oaks are still in good color in some locations and some trees in the residential areas of the City of Green Bay still have good color. The Green Bay weather station reported 1.51 inches of total rain over the previous two days and just 0.1 inch of snow.
Nov 4	Some areas in northern Wisconsin this morning were reporting as much as 5 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours (Washburn in Bayfield County; 4.9 inches in Alvin, Forest County) with many stations in the north reporting 2-3 inches. Green Bay received a few flakes, but mostly rain--0.76 inches of precipitation. The water level in Lake Michigan was down 10.68 inches compared to the same period last year (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). That is only 6.72 inches above the record low for October (1964). Precipitation in the Lake Michigan basin was about 89% of average for October.
Nov 3	A rainy morning in Green Bay and reports of snow in Shawano and in the Fox Valley. The weather forecast predicts 3-5 inches of snow today and tonight with winter storm warnings for portions of northern Wis. Rain is predicted for Green Bay.
Nov 1	A nice fall day. There are still some good fall leaves in Door County, if you pick your spot.