While most of us have been enjoying the warmth, farmers and the gardeners said this weather has been making their lives a bit more complicated. With plants already blooming and the threat for cold weather still in the future, they say some serious damage could be done.


All it takes is a look outside to see that trees and plants are already blooming. On Friday, the National Weather Service made it official, declaring that the growing season has started, well before normal.


"Typically, we would start our growing season in terms of issuing frost headlines and freeze headlines for critical temperatures right around the first of May. But this year, talking to local people, we are six weeks ahead of schedule," National Weather Service Meteorologist Fred McMullen said.


McMullen, a meteorologist from the Pittsburgh NWS office, said that a lot of other offices in the area have also started the season early, meaning frost and freezes are critical to the life of the plants which have started to grow.


"With everything blooming early, it can have an impact on the harvest. So for example, if we have a really hard freeze in terms of temperatures falling into the mid-20s in April, and things are already budding, they're starting the process of growing the fruit, it can hamper the harvest and potentially ruin it if the temperatures get cold enough," said McMullen.


While many have enjoyed this stretch of warm weather, those who have to battle with the growing season, like Nick Ianetti, said this weather is making things complicated as far as deciding whether or not to cover the plants.


"It's just a gamble. Every year it's a gamble. Last year, we had the rain to contend with. This year, we have the gorgeous weather to contend with," Iannetti, co-owner of Iannetti's Garden Center, said.


And if a frost or freeze is imminent, Iannetti said he will be extra busy caring for the plants.


"Most of the stuff we're either going to cover, leave covered, or bring indoors," said Iannetti.


As the forecast stands now, that next chance for a frost or a freeze looks to be Monday night into Tuesday.