Spring officially arrives on Wednesday, and not a moment too soon.
The slow end to winter has left many in the Forest City ready for a change in seasons, especially after a chilly spring last year. The forecast calls for near normal or above normal temperatures this year.
It won’t take long for Londoners to get the feeling of spring, while it will rain on Wednesday and Thursday, the temperature will be 8 C and 9 C respectively. After a quick dive down to 1 C on Friday, the weekend calls for sunny temperatures and highs of 4 C and 9 C on Saturday and Sunday.
Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Phillips told 980 CFPL the weather the London region has seen for the past week is indicative of what spring will be like. Some warm, some cold and some snow.
Phillips said it will be much better than last year.
“We went from slush to sweat, we didn’t have spring last year, it was missing in action. Last April was one of the cruelest April’s we’ve ever seen in the London area, we had temperatures on average that were almost four degrees colder than normal and then we came to May that was almost like the middle of summer.”
The long range forecast shows a couple days in the teens next week, aside from that the temperature will be in the single digits, which is the norm for this type of year.
The start of spring means the end of winter, and with it, the ski season.
Boler Mountain has stopped making snow but hopes to extend the ski season for as long as they can.
“We still have some great conditions out here; the snow base is still strong. We’re definitely hoping to get at least another week out of it and perhaps even two depending on what mother nature brings us,” said Greg Strauss from Boler Mountain’s management team.
9 of 15 trails are still open while three of four lifts are still operating. You can find their hours of operation here.
Boler opened in early December, this weekend will mark 100 days of ski operations. Strauss told 980 CFPL they’ve had a good run.
“Last couple of years we have gone into April but it’s been some marginal skiing and we haven’t had as nice throughout the season as we’ve had (this year).”
The good news for those still eager to hit the slopes is it’s rare an April goes by without snow. However, if it does snow, it likely won’t last for long.
“As we move along it becomes more and more difficult for winter to come back and if it does come back it’s typically for one day or two days,” said Phillips.
While everyone but the diehard skiers are putting away their equipment for the year, golfers are ready for the start of their season.
If the weather holds, the city of London hopes to open the first public golf course before the calendar flips to April.
“We always try to set our sights on April 1st,” said Scott Stafford, managing director of Parks and Recreation. “It looks like this year we might be ahead of that, the two week forecast doesn’t look too bad.”
Spring will start at 5:58 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday with the vernal equinox, when the sun’s light shines evenly over the Earth’s equator. Day and night are divided into roughly equal 12-hour cycles on the day of the equinox, which ends with the sun moving to shine more on the Northern Hemisphere. Daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere grow longer every day afterwards, until the solstice on June 21.
Spring officially arrives on Wednesday with a rare lunar phenomenon known as a “full worm super moon,” the third and final full super moon of 2019.
Weather permitting, the moon will appear slightly larger in the sky on Wednesday night, according to NASA. The full worm super moon should be visible a few hours after the official start to spring.
With files from Josh K. Elliott