Happy vernal equinox!

Grier's, Sarah's, and my winters were the same - endless. Today we have brilliant blue skies and sun - but it's only 25 degrees, and extremely windy. As a radio announcer here said today, "Spring arrived this morning, and it was NOT happy."

"Looking forward to outdoor café tables, and asparagus and baerlauch on the menu." I think we will have to wait a little longer this spring. Because of the longer-than-normal winter, they just recently started plowing the fields into those long mounds for asparagus cultivation. We had a few days of sun in the past few weeks, but it's mostly been the same overcast gray color that we've experienced almost continually since late October. What a change from last year! One year ago in March, the sky was completely blue, it was warm enough to wear shorts (yes, fascionistas, people in Europe wear shorts!), and all the beer gardens were open. Not so much this year...

As a colleague in my office reminded me: today is also Persian new year. She brought in sweets to share.

Happy Spring, Thomas... Wet, wet, cold, wet, cold, wet, wet, here in central England. All our bulbs were washed out, couldn't even get the crocuses in, too much snow. It is snowing now. We went to Rome and Bologna to get away from it and Bologna got 30cm of snow. Rome, it rained. I've cut my hair short so I don't have to keep drying it. Bring on summer. It is almost one year to the day since we were told it was the dryest winter in history and we would be suffering a hose pipe ban. Ever since that, it has barely stopped raining. Wettest spring in history, wettest summer in history, wettest year in history. I've had enough wet.

today is also Persian new year And the first day of the Baha'i new year. Happy Naw Ruz.

Happy vernal equinox to you too from a mild winter in Southern California. I went to a conference in Palm Springs last weekend and the temps were in the high 90s every day. Too hot for most people as the misters were on in the outdoor cafes. Btw, Becky says hi also to Thomas and family.

Shoveled 4 inches of snow out of the driveway yesterday. Snowbank now up to my eyeballs. This morning, 6 deg, -15 to those of you who use that other system.
Still waiting for a sign of Spring.

A lovely first day of spring snowstorm here in Nova Scotia...sigh...it all looked so promising last week...

The promise of spring shattered with heavy snowfall this morn and an elk herd remaining about the house refusing to enter higher elevations. Perfect weather for completing transportation details on summer trip to Europe.

A relatively mild winter in the DC area. The only real "eyeball freezing" day was the day after inauguration, we were lucky few had to be out in it. I live a little higher up, so had several snowfalls that stuck to the ground - including Monday morning. My bulbs are all coming up. Daffodils, at least on the south-facing side of my house, are full bloom.

In Indiana, they are calling it the Winter That Wouldn't Die. It hasn't been too bad, no record cold or snow fall, just drawn-out colder-than-normal weather and very few mild days so far. It will warm up soon, I promise!

It sounds like Grier and I have experienced similar winters in the Midwest. St. Louis hasn't had a very cold winter or more than average snow, but winter is hanging on awfully long. Temperatures here are 10 - 20 degrees below average. I just got back from a trip to Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine and even in those cities, temps were about 10 degrees below average. We're SO ready for spring!

We had some sunshine in Paris today, but most of the past few days have been like the rest gray and sometimes heavy gray. Trying to figure out where to take my parents for their annual May visit and thinking longingly of the Loire after a discussion the past few days on the Helpline. I usually try to take them somewhere new, but the thought of flowering trees, blooms, castles, wine and other amusements are really tugging at me.

Since I live in northern Iowa, just fifteen miles south of the border with Minnesota, I am so sick of seeing snow! Luckily, my husband and I will be going to France later this spring. However, before I go, I wonder if I put the Scott's Turf Builder on the snow, will it sink into the lawn when the snow melts? :) That seems like the best course of action since there may still be snow when I leave for Europe. The only place I have seen flowers has been in the retail greenhouse! I am ready for green grass, blue sky, yellow colza and white cows in France!

Thomas, Happy vernal equinox to you too! I definitely agree with you, I'm also tired of gray, cold, wet, rainy and snowy days. Our weather started to improve about the beginning of March, but there were a few days that I woke to heavy snowfall. Fortunately it always disappeared by late afternoon. The next few weeks are looking reasonably good, with temp's up to about 15C and mostly mixed sun and cloud. Whatever the weather is, I'm getting my snow tires removed in the next couple of days. If it snows, I don't care! The snow shovels are stored for the year and they are NOT coming out again! Unfortunately, those reading the United Airlines Hemisphere magazine may get the impression that we're still waist deep in snow here in the valley. Fortunately, that's absolutely NOT the case! Cheers!

The sap's rising.

(Sigh) It's minus 2 degrees and it has been snowing all day. Had to brush snow off the car for a second day in a row. They say it will turn to rain by Easter.

It is still freezing cold here in Frankfurt. We have had sun all week, but you would never know it. Windy too, which just cuts like a knife.

Two days ago St. Louis had a record-breaking snowfall of about 12". The natives are restless...where the hell is spring?

@Sarah, "where the hell is spring?" It appears to be on the west coast at the moment: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/uswa0395 Hopefully it will be moving your way soon.

Ken's right, Spring is here in the west. Today we will have a high of 70 degrees with sunny skies. We have had very little rain for months. Unfortunately, our rainy season is about over and we haven't seen much of the wet stuff. We need more mountain snow to keep the water flowing this summer. The weather is wonderful though.

In London I was told I was visiting during the coldest March in 50 years. Felt like it. It was worse in Dublin, even though the temperatures were all supposedly in the high 30s to low 40s, I have never in my LIFE experienced a cold wind as miserable and unpleasant as I did in Ireland the last few days. It was too cold to THINK. Snowed a bit on us yesterday in Dublin, then I return to Stuttgart to...several inches of snow on the ground. What the hell? What makes it worse is a couple of weeks ago we had about 5 days of actual spring. Sunshine, temps in the 50s, it was glorious. The biergarten even opened for a couple days. I hate Europe right now and am longing for my native California. Passover with snow! How horrible. Everyone is cranky because of the weather.

Just got back from "spring skiing" holiday in Colorado. Massive snowstorm in Denver Friday night delayed our arrival by 24 hours. Fantastic midwinter conditions. Exact same date one year ago, we were skiing in T-shirt and windbreaker and the snow was 100% "mashed potatoes" by 13:00. Some climatic year-to-year variations have been noted.

I'm afraid that everybody's spring has been in California (stifled giggle). We depend upon the winter rains to carry us through the rest of the year (no rain from ~ April - Oct/Nov) but unfortunately we've been suffering through a very spring-like winter. We've really enjoyed the 60's and 70's, though...if that helps you any ;-) (ducking and running)

Just heard from some Scottish and Irish friends that the lambing is a catastrophe. There is so much snow that they have to go dig the sheep out, but the lambs are all dying. Really sad to hear such news.

Winter is most definitely still a problem in some parts of the world. The BBC has had some coverage the last few days about the horrific snowfalls they've been getting, especially in northern England and Scotland. The weather has been bringing down transmission towers, so thousands of people are witout power. Northern Italy (around Trieste) has apparently also been getting "hit" fairly heavily. Temp's here are supposed to hit 18C (65F) on the weekend, so I think it's safe to have the snow tires changed over. Cheers!

Yes, I've also been seeing the incredible footage of the situation in the UK. The images are stunning. And for your farm friends, Jo, and the animals, how horrible. I saw a few intermittent snowflakes yesterday morning on my way to the Metro . . .

How awful about the lambing in the UK! Everyone - people, animals, and plants - is ready for spring except the weather. I don't think I've ever wanted spring as much as I do now. I've never really paid much attention to spring, maybe because here in St. Louis it seems to go from winter to summer in about two weeks. But this winter felt difficult to tolerate for some reason and it isn't showing much sign of letting go. They're predicting high temps in the 40s into next week, with possibility of some snow!!! Come on!

A snowy Seder here in Columbus, OH as well. My crocus are making a valiant effort, but the neighbor's gardeners showed up today so it must be spring. Happy Passover, Happy Easter to all!

Apparently, people are interested in reading about cold and dreary weather, so I will talk about the cold and dreary weather here in southwest Missouri in the U.S.A. March 16 the air temperature was 72 degrees F , with sunshine. Suddenly the air was much colder. March 21 : four inches of wet snow. March 24 : four inches of dry snow. During March 21 - March 26 the air was very cold, grey clouds covered the sky, dim light in the sky. My brain experienced torpor, lassitude, sluggishness. I did not do any of the tasks that I intended to do. I was a resident in the state Florida, for two years (June of 2009 to July of 2011). I was at Bradenton. That is at Florida's Gulf of Mexico coast, south of Tampa Bay, and 10 miles north of Sarasota. In February of 2010 the weather was very cold there. One morning in February the air temperature was 24 degrees F. That feels extremely cold to Florida people. No sunshine. Not many Florida tomatoes and oranges that year. That coldest day I was in a motor vehicle repair shop waiting for my car's brakes to be repaired. No heat in that waiting room. The air in that room was cold and humid. I wore warm clothes but I thought I would become ill with pneumonia. One aspect of being at that part of Florida that I liked was : I met many pleasant people who are citizens of, and residents at England, and Wales. They go on vacation (holiday) to Florida in the winter. They escape from the cold and wet air at England and Wales. Many of them go to Bradenton in Florida. The favorite destination is Anna Maria Island, located five miles west of Bradenton. In February and March of 2010 I met some of them in a cafe in Bradenton. Those people from England and Wales felt very disappointed because the air was very cold at southwest Florida. And in the month March of 2010 their airline flights to England were canceled because of the volcanic ash (from Iceland) in the air above Great Britain. :-(