Meanwhile it's just been reported that England has had the wettest March in 42 years. That may be officially so, but although it has been pretty rainy, it hasn't seemed any more so than I would expect for, well, England.  

(Wagga and/or Coracle may remember an Aussie pop song of the early 1980s, One Perfect Day by the Little Heroes, with a chorus that begins "And tell me / If it's still raining there in England..." I think of it sometimes when the weather here is doing just that.)

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

We are due to get another 39.9C (hop, skip & jump off 40C) day on Sunday, which is unusual for March, when the weather starts to cool down.

And there's the sort of weather I do NOT miss at all. It did get into the high 30s C for a couple of days when I was in Melbourne last month, but nothing I haven't handled before, and I certainly haven't forgotten what it feels like or how to cope with it. But I'm glad I no longer have to put up with it every year... except it DID get that hot for a few days in summer in Britain last year. I was fine — I live in a ground floor flat that doesn't get much direct sunlight, so it didn't get noticeably hot indoors, and I happened to be working night shifts at that time, so I wasn't having to be outside in the heat of the day — but most people over here were practically wilting. (For some reason, too, none of them were much cheered up by my remarking that where I grew up, we go through this kind of weather for a good portion of summer almost every year. )

The sun is out, the catkins are blooming, and it feels like some sort of spring is beginning.  We plunged back into winter last weekend, when we took a wee trip to Idaho, where it was still snowy and grey, with slightly slushy highways.  However, nothing like the storms some of you are having.

Posted by: @courtenay

Meanwhile it's just been reported that England has had the wettest March in 42 years. That may be officially so, but although it has been pretty rainy, it hasn't seemed any more so than I would expect for, well, England.

Four years ago (really! four years already!) we had the opposite when we were in England; very little rain comparatively during the whole four months we were there.  I even managed to get a sunburn at the end of February.  Mind you, that was on the Isle of Wight, so what else could be expected?  Maybe two weeks total of rain, including a very big storm while in Wales.

stargazer, that sounds like quite the 'April Fool's' storm! Here, we got a lot of wind and a lot of rain. Turning cold tonight again, though, with flurries.

Courtney wrote: Meanwhile it's just been reported that England has had the wettest March in 42 years.

aileth wrote: very little rain comparatively during the whole four months we were there. I even managed to get a sunburn at the end of February. 

to both those statements!  

I am missing the longer nights already. Thankfully, at this point the mornings remain dark for the most part of my walk, until 6:20 or so, at which point the dawn becomes brighter, with the sun rising just after 7. But the evenings have become light too late for my tastes, and that is only going to increase with summer coming. Ah well, the cycle of the year.   I am already anticipating late August when a definite change is seen as the longer days finally start to become shorter in the northern hemisphere.

Easter weekend's forecast is looking comfortable, with temperatures around 9 or 10C / 48-50F, a mixture of sun and cloud. That's campfire weather! And with family coming for the long weekend, we will probably jump at a backyard fire opportunity ... that is, if the area is dry enough. It certainly is not now, with all the rain from the past 24 hours.  

Many areas have their own local weather jokes. One of ours is having to use the heater in the morning and air conditioning in the afternoon.

We won't be far from that this week.  The forecast:

Current temperature (Friday at noon local time): 39F/4C

First 60F (16C) reading of the season: Saturday,
First 70F (21C) reading of the season: Tuesday.
First 80F (27C) of the season: Wednesday.

Yup, spring in Minnesota: all 4 of days long. 😉

(Our average high right now is 54F/12C).