Winter is finally coming to an end, but colder than normal temperatures and even flurries are still possible.
Spring officially arrives on Friday, March 20 at 10:46 a.m.
Environment Canada Meteorologist Trudy Kidd said while it marks the start of the astronomical spring, meteorologists track seasons in three-month intervals.
"Actually in the meteorological sense, we're already a few weeks into spring, even though it hasn't always felt like it," said Kidd. "But with both calendars in mind, we can look forward to longer days, and generally warming temperatures as we move through March, April and May.
Kidd said for the first few days of the new season, we will see highs slightly above normal.
"But as we know, spring doesn't give us a smooth, gradual increase in temperatures, its a very changeable time of year," said Kidd. "I like to say that it's predictably unpredictable because of these fluctuations that we get."
Daytime highs for the region will drop below seasonal the start of next week, and continue into April, according to Kidd.
She said while March can be a bit of a roller-coaster, things are looking up for the months ahead.
"Our model guidance is pointing toward warmer than normal conditions across Ontario for the April, May, June period. But when it comes to precipitation, it's not giving us any signals one way or the other, which is pretty typical actually," said Kidd.
We're reminded to check the forecast and road conditions before heading out. Winter may be over, but hazardous driving conditions are still a concern in early spring.
"So, this time of year when we have our daytime highs above freezing and our overnight lows below freezing, it's just a really tricky time of year for precipitation," said Kidd. "We can see rain, we can see freezing rain, snow and we can see all of those things in one day."
According the Farmers' Almanac, spring is currently being reduced by about one minute a year, and winter by around 30 seconds annually. It said summer is gaining the minute lost from spring, and autumn the half a minute lost from winter.
