After the long, cold winter we’ve endured, we northern dwelllers are anxious for spring. A warm-up is forecast and temperatures are expected to be in the 30s by next week, which will be the first week of March.
The forecast has some people musing about whether spring is here. I hate to be pessimistic, but I would say "no." Even by the calendar, spring doesn’t arrive for nearly a month. Anyone who’s lived here awhile knows that the calendar date usually doesn’t coincide witht the onset of spring. We’ve had plenty of cold, snow and wind between March and early May and even if those storms technically are called spring storms, they still feel like winter weather.
For me, though, it really doesn’t matter if the warm-up signals the arrival of spring. I’m just glad that the temperatures are expected to get above freezing. A long, slow melt is exactly what’s needed to avert flooding, and the weather during the next week should be ideal for that.
Meanwhile, I can enjoy the warm temperatures whether it’s spring or not. If spring fails to arrive by the middle of April, I’ll be concerned, but for now I’ll take the weather as it comes.
