Direct Experience with the Gulf Stream: A Word from France

I just found out that my iNaturalist app still works even in Europe. I just identified a plant that was growing in someone’s garden here in Hoenheim, France: the primrose jasmine, Jasminum mesnyi. With very beautiful yellow flowers.

Blooming on December 29.

I also saw abundant male catkins, newly emerged, on a hazelnut bush (Corylus avellana), and also on alders (Alnus glutinosa).

Wikipedia says the male catkins emerge very early in the spring. This is an understatement. We also saw an evergreen barberry (Berberis beali) in full bloom as long ago as December 20.

The winter days in France have been mild. There was light snow, which immediately melted. This is all due to the Gulf Stream, which brings warm tropical ocean water into the north Atlantic Ocean, and with it lots of moisture. Nearly every day has been chilly, not cold, and cloudy. Both of these things are due to the Gulf Stream, which I have heard about all my life. The winters have so far been warmer here at 48 degrees north latitude than in Tulsa at 36 degrees north. This week has been very cold, which means down to about 20 F. Meanwhile almost all of America was hit by winter storms.

People are growing leeks and mustard leaves in their gardens. In December. There are hundreds of public garden spots which anyone can rent, but they are almost never available because once you have rented your spot, you generally keep it for decades. People have constructed playgrounds for their kids and even humble houses in their garden plots. In America, we had a little bit of urban gardening, but not to the extent we have seen it in France.

The Gulf Stream has been ameliorating the climate in Europe for thousands of years. It is not the product of global warming. In fact, some scientists have predicted that a global-warming-related alteration of ocean circulation might plunge Europe into cold temperatures, although this is considered unlikely. But it does demonstrate how dependent the economy of each country is on climatic patterns. Climate catastrophes have been happening in America, and America remains more susceptible to climate catastrophes (droughts, storms, wildfires) than Europe, in which Mediterranean drought caused huge wildfires in 2023.

I am thankful to now be living in a part of the world that is less likely than most other places to suffer climate catastrophe in the near future.