I have seen the signs: robins at the bird bath, a goldfinch in a flock of sparrows, a hint of buds on the tree in my yard, and the weatherman, possibly beat down and punch drunk from a hard winter, has overestimated how cold it was going to get several times in the last few days.

Yes, it is colder than I would like, and it will be some time before I,m down to shorts and sneakers for any length of time outdoors. I figure there are still one or two cold snaps still to come but the signs are clear that spring is coming.

Soon enough the snowbirds will be complaining about the heat. I, for one, am looking forward to 35C. Until then hang tough and stay warm.

Ah... this coming from someone who lives in Florida?

It must be AWFUL down there! The pain! The misery! THE DEGRADATION OF HAVING TO WEAR LONG SLEEVES! OMG!

Sue

I think most people in New England agree: If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow this year.... well, I cannot say the rest.

I don't have the cite, but I heard that CT has received 54" of snow in January. It is the largest single month total since something like 1905. Apparently though there may have been a 3-day winter storm that delivered 63" at some point in the late 1800's, but that was before official records..

I wore long sleeves yesterday. It was a mistake. I was too hot and had to roll them up. But it is not like it isn't cold here - gets down to the mid 40's during the night.

The weeds in the garden are flourishing...

[quote=Susan]
Ah... this coming from someone who lives in Florida?

It must be AWFUL down there! The pain! The misery! THE DEGRADATION OF HAVING TO WEAR LONG SLEEVES! OMG!

Sue[/quote

LOL! LOL!!

If it starts thawing already I will be severely disappointed in winter.

as a retiree under the Florida state pension fund, and on behalf of the Florida Department of Tourism, I can assure you that the term "snow bird" is really a form of endearment... that there is mandatory counseling for those misguided miscreants having non flattering bumper stickers directed at our out of state visitors, and for those that are prone to display certain hand gestures indicating displeasure with your driving technique... we welcome you and your disposable capital..

P.S. please try to schedule your transit on I-75 from the 275 mile mark south between 2300-0600 local...

It looks like spring here in the mountains of northern CA that's for sure!

Humming birds out and about, mid 60s, snow melting rapidly, the ground actually getting dusty. In Jan!!!!

Local hydrologists are predicting another round of severe flooding in river country this spring. We have 60 inches of snow on the ground already, and the 'snowy season' hasn't even begun yet. I live on high ground, but I feel for the folks in the valleys if we get a quick thaw.

I had intended the post as a reminder that no matter how bad it gets spring is coming and it will warm up. Figures warm weather would show up here earlier than higher latitudes but if it comes here it is surely on its way up there. Granted in some areas summer is just a momentary interruption of sub-zero normality.

Not that I would gloat over my relative warmth in the face of such hardships.

I lived farther north for many years and I'm familiar with the bone-chilling cold that never seems to go away and gray overcast that drives people to spree killing and suicide.

No problem, Art. I was just delaying my reply until hurricane season.

Up here, spring means April. Hopefully.

with Minneapolis expecting single digit temps and below zero nites the weather guys on TV are trying to cheer us up by talking about how much longer the days a getting--5:30 sunset and not 4:30--oh wow----

Hurricanes I can handle. We get a weeks, sometimes several weeks, warning. They are unpredictable in their specific track but localized. Even a direct hit, been there - done that, is a day of preliminaries, 24 hours of mauling, a couple hours of life sliding sideways ... then it is passed. Hurricane season is six months long but the actual event is coming, here, and gone. It isn't like winter, inevitable, unavoidable, ever present, and months long.

Hurricanes are like car crashes. They happen. Here in lurid Technicolor, then gone. You live through them, make it and pick up the pieces, or don't.

Winter in northern climates is a slow grind, a test of endurance, patience, sanity. Cold, wet, miserable, and punctuated by blizzards, and just enough warmth to keep the frigidity from becoming routine. A grind. A grind that wears you down and returns every year. A stalking beast that never goes away for long. An animal that always eventually wins.

So I moved south. Family has history down here. Winter still makes a showing but it is a bit milder, having feasted on the souls of Yankees it is less voracious, and after a few days there is enough warmth to feel my bones warm up. It is still a slap in the face, but it doesn't take up residence; find a job, raise kids, and get into local politics.

This winter has been harsh, as such things go round here. It isn't over yet but I think it is one of the shorter, seven week winters. What made this one bad was the frequency of the hard freezes. At least a half-dozen bitter cold fronts and most of them had three very cold nights in a row. But, even then, mercifully, kind of like being turned into a newt, it gets better. And it feels like we are on the up swing. Bring the heat baby. A coconut breeze is coming and I can't wait.

My brother, who retired to Bemidji, MN, always says, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes." He is probably out ice fishing right now.

Of course, I cheer him on from my location in southern California...

for those "not in the know" Bemidji is sort of the last place North in that part of the world that is not a village or State park.even in the part of Canada just North of Bemidji it's just bogs and lakes,unlike the Prairie Provinces to the West,where they have farms,citys and people.the town has a place in my heart as i went to the college there in 1969 when i was out of the Army and looking to get "off the grid" as we would say now.my roommate did a demo for a recreational leadership class on how to make a lean-too and survive if your car went off the road.as a guy from NY that was a wake up call on what to expect when winter set in for real.

The sun was finally out yesterday, and the temperature soared to 20 F, so I decided to frolic in the sunshine.

Here are my springtime activities:

1. Put new skids on my snowblower
2. Cleaned the ice, salt, and sand off the garage floor
3. Chopped the packed snow and ice off the driveway
4. Scraped snow off the roof
5. Took down the last of the Christmas lights
6. Dug out extention cords from under 60 inches of packed snow

Today:

It's snowin' again!!!!!

Cold fronts are coming my way after the recent glorious warming trend which has had me opening the windows in the afternoon. On the up side the forecast is for temperatures to get colder but, fortunately, nowhere near as cold as it was.

It's just getting started for us in the midwest. Temps are hovering around zero with some areas blanketed under several feet of snow. The bright side is when the temps get up to double digits it actually feels warm.

Whoo hoo!

- 46*C today, with a little wind chill of course.

but -1*C predicted for Thursday.

-- I agree with Susan though, what does a person from Florida have to complain about in terms of temperature? BTW, I heard the shuttle Columbia is being rolled out today for its last shot into space.

Spring hasn't come yet to southern Cal - that is the time of year when the grass turns brown.....

The sun has been down for almost two hours and my windows are open. Crickets are having at it telling me that it is most of 70F/22C.

Florida boys, being considerate southerners, wishing to share our good fortune, and having a soft spot for people who live where weather is not generally supportive of human life, were trying to help you out by sending as much warm air as we could spare your way. Sounded like a good idea at the time. This weather thing is tricky.

The down side is that the warm moist air from the gulf is dropping its water, in the form of ice and snow, in a band from Texas to NYC. Sorry about that.

Thought I would bump this thread.

Spring is slowly arriving here. The picture was taken Saturday afternoon when the temperature was almost 50 F. The snow lines on the mountains is inching higher day by day while lower down in the marshland areas, the vegetation is slowly greening up.

Early signs were equivocal.

It is clearly spring here now. I have a nice flock of robins at the birdbath, the red bud trees are flowering gang-busters, the pines are dropping pollen, it was better than 80F this afternoon, and I saw at least on cutie wearing nothing but a string bikini laying out to catch rays.

Yes, some of you are still digging out from several feet of snow. But spring is coming. In just a month or two it will be above freezing most of the time. Let the good times roll.

At my latitude, the day is increasing in length by more that 2 minutes a day (should be even more up in the Frozen Tundra of Minnesota). The equinox is only a month away. I yearn for long summer days....

Guess you guys are gona hate me but I could use a couple more months of winter, I'm just getting good at skiing and could use more practice.

Hate you? No, I don't hate you. Montreal Canada seems like a fine place to be if you want your winters to be a bit longer than average.

I'm actually kind of torn between accepting that there are just some people who like cold weather, different strokes for different folks, and hiring a rescue team that will kick in your door, stuff you into a large canvas bag, haul you south, and systematically deprogram to counter the Stockholm syndrome you are suffering from in relation to the cold weather. It is natural for people who are detained, brutalized, and made helpless by the cold weather to identify with the cold weather, to admire and even to justify the power of the cold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

The later course would be expensive and tough but with gratuitous levels of exposure to semi-nude people, heat, sunshine, and generous helpings of suntan lotion, and hours of Jimmy Buffet and Little Feat I think we will get you deprogrammed ... or at least tanned and relaxed.

I wonder if I could make kidnapping people to semi-tropical locals into a business. You have heard of black helicopters and black-on-black outfits ... we are the well tanned guys in Hawaiian shirts.

The best situation is what the Southwest and southern California provide - deserts interspersed with high mountains - what the textbooks call Basin and Range. During the cooler months, if you want winter, just climb up into the mountains. When the snow isn't fun anymore, simply descend to the lowlands.

In Tucson, my old stomping grounds, it is quite possible to ski and play outdoor tennis in the same day, or swim, or golf. In the summer, when you can melt lead on the sidewalks, the nearby heights (up to 9,000 feet) provide a welcome, cool relief.

Right now, the hills of Ventura County are alive with the sounds (and sights) of fresh fallen snow. i went for a pleasant bike ride this morning.

When I lived in Hawaii we vacationed on the big island, in our opinion, at the time, any other state would be a bit of a letdown, and you could quite literally build a snowman and downhill ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon.

Nothing like the taste of mud to let you know the season. Better than three pounds is good eating for two or more Do you eat them or do you catch, fondle/torture, and release?

My asparagus is currently 10" tall, my potato plants have broken through the soil, my onions are going nuts. Woo hoo, it's spring in Houston!

-Blast

Better yet, trust the weather-predicting alligator's stomach.

-Blast

This is the way I see it,If we have Crappy Weather here in Southern California,It becomes Bad Weather as it passes it's way East,Making it's way into The Rockies,Forming up with weather there,Then Clashing with The Warm systems from the Gulf,which in turn create Violent Crappy Weather in Texas,Texarkana,Oklahoma,etc.We have a Big Front coming in This weekend,So I predict somewhere near Next Wednsday,there will be Crappy,Un-Springlike Weather in The Lone Star Area,Cover them onions n'taters!

It hit 90F here according to a thermometer in the sun. Figure around 85F for real. I did some work in the yard with my shirt off. Took off the last of the old leaves I piled on plants to keep them from freezing and cut some plywood and 1bys for a project. Broke a bit of a sweat working in the sun. My winter whitened forearms and neck turned just slightly pink from the sun after a bit so I put on a long-sleeve shirt and wide brimmed hat. Pays to be careful with the more direct sun here. The southern sun doesn't play.

Felt good. Winter is gone, spring is here. I'm loving every minute of it.

I spoke too soon last week when I bumped this tread.

This what it looked like at 9:30 am today. We ended up with 8 inches of snow before it let up around 2:00 pm. So much for the balmy and temperate PNW...

Great-Googlie-Mooglie that looks cold. Gave me a shiver.

That looks like the cooler side of 'temperate'. It is north of 75F here at 2300. My windows are open and the crickets are singing.

On the up side, if the power goes out you have a cold place to keep the beer. LOL.

Stay warm ... rumor is that warmer weather is coming your way. Wow ... that is too cold to contemplate. I feel for you.

Well, it's been a hard winter out on the prairies, cycling between above freezing (creating a sheet of ice everywhere) and large snow dumps combined with very d@mn cold temperatures (down to -36C plus windchill. This cycle makes every last thing harder; and the ice dams on my house are causing real problems (and a lot of highly inventive cursing as I chop ice and dry out insulation). The wide temperature swings load me down with a lot of "make work."

But there can be bright spots. Had fun yesterday, with some city kids visiting. After they were saturated with video games and broadband internet, I convinced them to come out in the yard, along the shelterbelt trees, where the drifts were four feet deep and dense enough to walk on. In an hour and a half, we dug a 3-person snow shelter, put a wood/tarp/snow roof on top, put in a real glass window for fun, fashioned a snow bench to sit on, and dug out alcoves for a ton of candles. Then their mom came out for photos, with candles in the foreground and a winter sunset behind. I think the two sisters have a good memory of the day; they've already scheduled 'uncle' to help them build a summer shelter. (And having made points, I now have a snazzy snow cave to work with.)

It looks like March is coming in cold and miserable. Good. Believe it or not, the old saw "in like a lion and out like a lamb" tends to hold true up here.

Good work with the kids. You can't buy those sorts of memories and, assuming you are like me, can use all the points you can get.