Early Ripe Blueberries

Observation by Tina Buxbaum:

Saw (and picked and ate) ripe blueberries on Moose Mt ski slopes as I️ was hiking up. Seems a bit early.

Comments from LEO Editors:

LEO has received two other posts of early ripe blueberries in the Interior this year! We forwarded both posts to Katie Spellman, an ecologist at the UAF International Arctic Research Center. In response to those observations, Katie writes:

I wonder what the snow cover was like where you were standing? We know that the timing of snow melt really drives the timing of berry production and ripening for blueberry and lingonberry, so with your observation, it is possible to look at the timing of snowmelt from remote sensing images and see if that helps explain the early berries where you were hiking! We are tracking the phenology of berry species using pressed herbarium specimens, careful tracking around UAF and At the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research area, and with help from observations like yours. Blueberry seems to be one of the more variable of the berries across years over the past 100 years, and the really early and really late years are increasing in variability for Vaccinium uliginosum.

Looking at temperature and precipitation measured at the Fairbanks International Airport, it looks like warm spring temperatures caused an early melt of above average snowpack in the Fairbanks area.