I WANT TO EAT A NUT OF LAERMA!

THE LAST GASP OF WINTER...

The weather has been wildly variable in Ottawa the past couple of weeks.

March started out pretty cold, which is a "no duh" statement, but it felt colder than usual after a milder winter.

However, March ended on a particularly warm note, reaching a record-breaking 22 degrees Celsius (71.6ºF) on Friday.

The snow melted rapidly last week, and, by Sunday, there was almost no snow left in our front yard, and only a little bit in the backyard, mostly towards the back, which is in the shade from tall hedges and fences for most of the day.



Not that I'm particularly fond of warm days in the early spring, as the trees begin to bud and my pollen allergies begin to act up.

But, the early stage of spring in this part of Canada is rarely a one-way progression from cold to warm. There are still lingering winter air masses from the subarctic, and, sometimes, they travel southeast.

On Saturday evening, as I was walking around downtown Ottawa after going to the anime club, the temperature was noticeably dropping, and I had to put up the hood on my hoodie because I hadn't thought of bringing my black wool-knit cap. And, so far this week, the temperature has been hovering around the freezing point.

Last night, we got some snow. Just a flurry, really, but it was enough snow to make the ground in our front yard white again.



Not that I'm complaining. It's a much more benign effect of the cold air mass that is sparking those tornadoes in the U.S. midwest.

posted by Steve Brandon @ 9:12 PM