Spring Fever

Only in the Northland can you be ankle-deep in slush with a mild breeze blowing in your face. This week's rapid thaw is increasing hopes for spring, and the potential for significant flooding in the coming weeks.

I have been trained to avoid yellow snow, but what about brown snow? Dust from Mexico got vacuumed into our snowfall yesterday with reports of brown snow. Whatever the color, much of the snow will finally melt in the coming weeks as a fast-forward thaw arrives.

Our wintry occupation shows signs of fading away by the weekend with a streak of 50s early next week, even a slight chance of tasting 60 degrees! Big weather changes are on the way - finally.

We will experience almost every kind of weather over the next 36 hours: snow, glaze ice, sleet, thunder and lightning and winds gusting as high as 60 mph. After this wintry tantrum spring arrives, with the flick of a switch, next week with a streak of 50s.

Lighter snow is expected to end this week, but things could get really interesting for the first week of April.

It sure doesn't look like spring out there, but there are now subtle cues that the seasons are, in fact, shifting gears and our inevitable slide into spring will accelerate in the weeks to come. Here are just a few.