Countdown to Spring!

Note that the above graph shows average temperatures!

With just seven more days to go before the official arrival of spring on March the 20^th, I've got some good weather news. Temperatures, which had been averaging 6 degrees below normal are forecast to do a 180 and jump up to 6 degrees above normal. Be still my yammering heart! In the graph above the blue line represents the next 8 day average of about 51F while the dashed line is the normal average for this time of year.

The only fly in the ointment will be the rapidly increasing juniper, oak and maple tree pollen levels. The bane of allergy suffers like myself! This picture a juniper at right illustrates the point. They all look brown, not because of dead limbs, but due to massive loads of pollen that they are getting ready to unleash upon the world! (These high pollen levels will be pretty much be the rule for the next few weeks with only occasional rains to help knock them down).

So, for the most part, it's a win-win situation as it warms up out there and all those neat signs of spring begin to happen. Before we know it all the trees will be leafed out and the area will lose that brown drab look it's sported all winter long. That will signal to me that it's time to sit outside in my back yard and light up the barbeque!