The crocuses started blooming last week. Flowers != spring in the Puget Sound where it's still dark and raining. At least the purple and yellow remind me color is to come.

Wait, isn't it still Fall?

*Scribbles out "the planets" and writes in "axial tilt".

Much better!

March 20th, fools.

Been Spring all winter here in S Texas -- first mosquito bit was in late January. Hammock never came down, and didn't have to pull out patio heater.

Lots of Winter Texans too.

NONE OF THE ABOVE!

Whichever calendar company started calling the quarters the "first day" of the season has my eternal ire. Check any ooooold calendar or almanac: the solstices and equinoxes mark the middle of the season (that's why they used to be called MIDsummer and MIDwinter). The cross quarters mark the transition between seasons. The first day of spring this year was February 3rd.

For more on this, Google "archaeoastronomy."

When daylight savings time starts. This year, March 10th.

I live in Minnesota, so I'm thinking around April 10.

bleumoon28415 wrote:*Scribbles out "the planets" and writes in "axial tilt".

Much better!

I need a bumper sticker that says, "The 23° tilt in the Earth's axis is the reason for the season(s)."

And March is neither winter nor spring, at least here in the mid-Atlantic. It rarely snows in March, so it's not winter, but the grass isn't growing, the trees aren't leafing in, and you rarely get a day that makes you think it would be a waste to spend the day inside.

Instead, you get a lot of days where the high is 52°, the low is 35°, and more or less equal chances of its being sunny, overcast, or a cold rain.

I can say more positive things about any other month, including February which at least has the possibility of real snow, than about March.

Oh, and daylight savings time now comes way too early, plunging us back into morning darkness. The first Sunday after the Equinox would be about right.