One convenience of living in Central Illinois is that the astronomical seasons and the meteorological seasons line up pretty well—you can reasonably expect spring weather along about the third week of March.
Just now, though, the equinox is still a full month off and the weather is wintery. It’s been weeks since we’ve seen the temperature manage to make it above freezing. But today it is forecast to do just that. It won’t be for long, certainly not long enough to melt much snow, but any melted snow has to be counted a plus right now.
I’m ready to get back to running and bicycling, but not quite ready enough to run or ride over the ice and snow. But, in Central Illinois, I can look at the calendar and have good reason to hope that the sidewalks and road shoulders will be soon be clear.
Yesterday we had a preview of spring: the high was way up in the 40s and if you stood on the sunny side of the building, you could close your eyes and imagine it was spring. By the end of the day, all the snow in the sunny areas had melted. But this morning it was winter again. Sigh…