Azaleas blooming before springtime may be sign of warming climate, weather chief warns

Word that azaleas - which usually flower in spring - have begun blossoming up to five months earlier is 'shocking news' and has sent 'shivers down the back' of Hong Kong's weather chief, who believes it is the result of global warming.

But plant experts say they cannot be sure whether the unusually early floral displays are caused by climate change or other factors.

Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying said he noticed that azaleas in the Observatory grounds had been flowering earlier each year over the past decade; in the past two years, they even bloomed in November.

'This year, a friend told me that azalea flowers were seen in Kowloon Tong as early as late October. This is shocking news,' Mr Lam wrote in an article titled 'Spring in Autumn' on the Observatory website.

Mr Lam wondered whether 'nature has lost its sense of season' and wrote that the change had happened so quickly it sent shivers down his back. 'That plants have flowers out of the proper season in Hong Kong reflects that climate change has seriously disrupted the delicate balance in nature which has taken millions of years to establish.'

Azaleas - which usually blossom in March or April - were seen flowering this month on a roadside slope outside Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon Tong. A visit to the site yesterday found a handful of scattered blossoms remaining.

Richard Corlett, a National University of Singapore ecology scientist who has just left Hong Kong, said early flowering could be a sign of climate change.