Spring, According to Me

Spring may not be officially here until Friday, but there were many people out in my neighborhood today who can’t wait even five more days. With sunny skies and temperatures almost 50 degrees, the pathways along the harbor saw more walkers and cyclists than they have for months. Fisherman, too. This winter the harbor stayed frozen for weeks on end and so they did not line up the way I have seen in other winters, but today the fishing gear was out in full display.

Yesterday was the first day that I saw open water. There are a few clumps of ice floating around in the lake, but they are small and will soon be gone. The marina still has ice on it too, but that didn’t bother the people feeding the geese.

The lake temperature is up to 34.1. How do I know? No, I did not go out and measure it. I checked it out on the Great Lakes Observing System website, which links me to Coast Watch of Michigan State University.

You can get all kinds of information from these websites, and view current harbor conditions on a WebCam as well. I look at them occasionally, but I prefer to make my own observations. I watch the ice and when it disappears, I know the temperature has gone up. I watch what people are wearing, too, although that is not as reliable. Today with a slight wind of 5-8 mph off the lake, I was still wearing my winter coat. No gloves or hat, and my coat was partially undone, but I saw people, primarily young ones, in short sleeves and no coats. I guess their thermometer is calibrated a bit differently than mine.

Nonetheless, I was delighted to be out in the nice weather, and so were they. The Vernal Equinox may be on March 20, but spring was here today and so were the people.