In Vermont, First Day of Spring and First Spring Day Are Two Different Things

Astronomical spring arrives at 12:57, EDT, right after lunch today.

Vermont State Police this morning Tweeted this gloomy
photo with the caption "A sure sign of spring in Vermont"  

That's nice, but as we all know in the Great White North, the first day of spring and the first spring day are two completely different things.

Here in Vermont, that's demonstrably true today.

Yes, temperatures have risen a little above freezing in many locations this morning, and will rise to near 40 by the time spring officially gets here this afternoon.

That's enough for a modest maple sap run, which is good. But really, spring?

As much as 7 inches of snow fell overnight in southeastern Vermont and most of us got one to five inches of snow overnight.  Some roads were still icy and slick during the morning commute.

There's still more than a foot of snow on the ground in most areas of the state.  More snow is forecast tonight, especially in the mountains.  It's supposed to stay cold for at least a week, probably more. The first spring day in Vermont is going to come way, way after the first day of spring.

Vermont State Police got the spring situation, or lack thereof exactly right on Twitter this morning.  Above a caption that reads "A sure sign of spring in #Vermont," they Tweeted the photo you see in this post. VSP captured it perfectly.

Of course you have the "Winter Weather Advisory" electronic sign on the highway median, but notice the dark sky, darker landscape, wet road, piles of dirty snow and the car headlights cutting through the gloom in their mostly colorless photograph.

Not exactly spring brightness and cheer, huh?

I guess this means when (and if!) spring finally gets here with it's exploding greenery, blue skies with scattered puffy white clouds and splashes of flower color all over the place, we'll appreciate the first spring day more than we usually do.

Which is saying something!