A week ago was spring, now we're back to winter :)

I was actually thinking this was the last day of winter and was hoping tomorrow it would be back to the weather we have had recently.  I looked it up though when I saw mention of spring earlier, it's the 20th this year.

I'll hope for a warm birthday instead.

Signs of Spring - NONE!!! (Yesterday I saw a few drops of water from melting snow off the roof onto the deck, but no melting on this first day of Spring!)

Absence of Spring - temperature is below 0 (-5 C), four feet of snow on the ground, snowing again today!  No little birdies, no blades of grass or flowers poking through the snow, no rubber boots and running water, etc.

Cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Squirrels were making noise running up and down the cedar tree outside. I can hear birdies chirping but the seagulls and crows are most prominently visible (downtown). No signs of budding leaves on other trees, though. It's sunny but the air feels cool today. Plus 6, but that seems a little cool for this time, here.

http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=9637219 it's nice editorial.

* Looks out window at snow flurries *

Not quite here yet, though the local conservation authority is starting to talk about spring flooding so I hope that's a good sign.

Mendalla

I get excited when I realize I'm in an extraordinarily beautiful part of the country (not without other problems), but one thing is that the changing of the seasons is so subtle we sometimes miss it if not reminded to look- speaking for myself. The temperature changes are subtle (and today is below average for this time). Fall to winter is the most obvious because of the leaves changing and falling off. Don't notice summer coming until the first heat wave hits. I guess that's the same everywhere, though. We don't get a lot of white stuff- but more than enough rain all year that puts people off. Keeps plants green and watered I guess.

crocuses

tulips

vampires beginning to gripe

khalsa day

spring break

Gastown & New West restart their old love affair

cloudy oceans

spring runoff

oestre

passover

may poles & holes

mother's day

april fools

towel day

spring skiing

renewal rebirth

outdoor concerts

people walking in shorts n ts

bananna slugs

rainforests

happy yeast

bigfoot hoedown

saanich tries seceding again

Funny thing about flooding in London is that we have largely turned the flood plains into parkland or other uses that aren't as badly impacted by the floods on the Thames and North Thames. Yeah, some playgrounds will need cleaning and fixing and the bike/walking trails are closed until the floods subside but that stuff isn't heavily used until late May or June anyhow. There may be some flooded basements in low lying areas in other parts of the city, but we don't get the destructive flooding along the rivers very often because we've kept residential and commercial development away from the flood plains.

Mendalla

I have a relative there, who recently moved to London, but I've never even been to Ontario. I hope nobody's basements get flooded.

So the rivers in London Ont. are actually called the Thames and North Thames? I guess maybe I should know but didn't know that. Nice. Aptly named!

Here in the Okanagan Valley of B.C., the snowdrops, crocuses and wild buttercups are out, but it still is a bit chilly.

Temperature right around 0 today.  There was one warmer day that brought some melting but that just means it is treacherous trying to walk outside!  That danger is doubled now that the ice is covered by the snow that is coming down.  I am tired of winter!

Signs of spring?  Hmmm........I did spot some buds that were getting fatter a few days ago.  Even the crows are staying in a warmer area. 

I hope you have a beautiful day on your birthday whenever it is, chemgal :).

Cherry blossoms, kimmo, wow! That saounds like spring.

Spring flooding are terrifying words to many, mendella. Hope all remains safe where you are.

Are you seeing all those signs now, Inanna :)?

Snowdrops, crocuses, and wild buttercups - I'm envious, Arminius :).

Spring with its melting and freezing temperatures can be treacherous Kay. So many with movement disabilities are at a greater risk in slippery places. That is one thing I don't like about spring.

Arm, Okanagan Valley is beautiful! Only ever been through in the summer (very hot weather) and I took a photo of an old farmer's market with fruit in carts out front- against the backdrop of rolling hills and cotton candy clouds. It looked like a European painting almost. I lost that photo in a move. I used to keep it on my fridge :( good thing is I remember it vividly. Breathtaking.

I hope you're birthday's warm too chemgal. And I hope everybody's areas warm up soon, with no problems.

I woke up to a snow storm.  It's actually melting now.

Thanks Beloved and Kimmio.  I'll just leave it as my birthday is sometime this month, due to privacy concerns :)

We saw two robins today. They were in a tree - - usually the first sighting of them is on the ground. 

Another snow storm in Ottawa 

Another 10 inches of snow last night....grrrr..

Yep, the Thames runs through the city (and connects us to Lake Erie and places like Chatham), the North Thames comes down from North of the city through the Western University campus and joins the Thames downtown. There's a nice park where they meet called the Forks where the city have a waterpark and a nice playground.

Very wintery today in London. -5 with flurries. Spring may arrive, weather-wise, by Thursday when temps are to rise into the positive single digits with chance of showers.

Mendalla

My first robins were not only in a tree but had their feathers so puffed up against the cold that it looked like they were wearing little birdy parkas.

Mendalla

today was beautiful -- 15 C, sunny, little wind, shorts n tee weather

some of the cherrry blossom trees are burgeoning, some are still asleep

today was the first day i felt SPRING!!! there is a feeling i have with spring & fall, its an energizing, awakening buzzing feeling, like all is right with the world...

flowers are peeking out of their beds; tulips, crocuses, some unknown lil red bell-shaped flowers

in the winter, the oceans here are grey (which just happens to be the best time to scuba dive--less cloudy ocean)--when the mountain snows melt and the spring runnoff happen, putting lots of nutrients into the ocean and making it more turbid, therefore, more life and more green...

khalsa day is coming up on april 19.  there is a huge parade, lots of food, lots of free stuff, its like a gay pride parade but different theme :3

and i haven`t been LARPing in a long time, so i no longer hear the vampires gripe (ie those who play vampire LARP -- its improv theatre where people play act as vampires...)

i don`t see bananna slugs much anymore -- i remember seeing them a lot on our elementary school fieldtrips to stanley park & UBC endowment lands...bright yellow & orange hippy slugs...they flaunted their molluschood...

there are really only 2 seasons where i`m from -- wet and not so wet.  so when i seehear ya other `nucks go on aboot hurricanes, poutine fires, conservative heatwaves, liberal snowdumps, etc, it makes me go ``w o w...what IS that...``

I woke to -32 C windchill this morning. No flowers for this area for quite a while.  No returning birds yet either.

The good news is NO BUGS!

*points at the screen* ``w o w...what IS that...``

(i saw a lil news story on windypeg...-40 C!  people with no running water.  a giant snowhead.  a choccy shop only operating on the largesse of water donated by firepeople.)

Mi

Wrong section

It's 12 degrees in Vancouver today. A little overcast. Yesterday was about the same and sunny. Daffodils are up all over the place and cherry blossoms are still full bloom. I've been wearing a light long sweater-jacket over long sleeve t-shirts, no coat. It's been a fairly normal/ good year here weatherwise.

rain's coming back

(at least we aren't as excessive as the wet coast of vancouver island, with its annual rainfall of some 7 meters...O.o)

On a positive note, it keeps the greenery and flowers watered, and we have really really big old trees. I think that's the reason they call nearby Seattle, the Emerald City. Reminds me, Inanna, remember when, before the Internet, American tourists would come up here on a short jont from Seattle wearing parkas and ski jackets in May (even July), ready for arctic weather? They were surprised to find about the same weather. I suppose, for some reason, they didn't know better, but I always got a chuckle out of that. You could spot them right away. But since the Internet, they can quickly look up information about where they're going. Although, before, they could just call and ask Tourist Information for a weather update.

I bought another backyard cooker today. yep, up to 5 again. My yard looks like a BBQ junkyard. Oh well, tis the season! YAY!

Why do you need all those bbqs? Do you host a lot of summer weddings? Huge neighbourhood parties? Got a home based catering biz?

Nicer weather here now ... most of the snow is  gone in the city.  

And speaking of 'boids' (as in the OP) - on the weekend we had a flock of about 200 (yes really!!) red wing blackbirds that landed in our backyard trees - it was SO noisy that I was drawn outside to see what was causing the racket!  Fascinating to see so many of them.  Fortunately, they decided to move on after about 10 minutes rest ... 

It is officially spring here, now. Positive highs since the weekend and continuing. Even the overnight lows are now positive some nights. Snow melting and in some areas it's gone. And, thanks to the gradual thaw, we avoided any ice jams or other thaw-related problems on the rivers that could have exacerbated spring flooding. In fact, so far not too bad a year on that front. Of course, we haven't had much rain, yet (that's coming on the weekend).

Mendalla

*smells outside*

i HOPE that isn't snow i smell...

Other bennies of living here

that's amore!

you call that a snail?? this, this is a snail

a bit of the usa still attached to canada, inhabited by canadians

you're fortunate :3

i love walking around wetlands and hearing them/seeing them flitting aboot the reeds...there's this one place in Kelowna where they'd be hidden amongst the reeds and every time i raised my hand one of them would appear for a brief moment before going amongst the reeds; i felt like a conductor...beautiful songs they have...

so its bbq time?

Spring - not yet

Red winged blackbirds - cool!

Sounds like some across the country are seeing real spring evidence - and others, not yet.

It was a nice day here today . . . some melting and water running on the roads a bit.  It is supposed to get cold again, and we are supposed to have snow sometime soon.

I am hoping to enter a bbq competition this year. You need to make 4 things. Brisket, ribs, chicken and pork shoulder. All at the same time. Brisket takes 11 to 12 hours and pork shoulder even longer. Six hours for ribs. So they all need their own cooker.

Spring sprung an ice rink outside my house.  One day of melting a bit followed by frigid temps again brought the inevitable result!  Might hit 0C today