We're in Fake Spring here in the Midwest

The calendar suggests we are only 16 days away from the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

Anyone who has lived for any length of time where I do on the southern shore of the Great Lakes knows this is feeble cause for celebration. We all have vivid memories of heavy March snowstorms. Heck, we have memories of heavy April snowstorms (and once or twice, considerable snow in early May).

Spring is one big con for those of us in Northeast Ohio and others who live in similar latitudes. Sure, it slowly gets warmer. Very slowly, actually. But the best thing you can realistically hope for is consistent temperatures within 20 degrees of freezing and maybe not quite as much rain as we usually get.

And again, that's only if the "spring" snowstorms don't rear their ugly head and make it feel like one long extension of February.

This is a cynical way of looking at things, I know, but it's also an eminently sensible one. Calendar Spring is a lot different from Real Spring, which doesn't happen here until mid-May or so. And even then it only lasts 4-6 weeks, because you get to mid-June and suddenly it's 90 degrees. No transition period or anything, just boom...hot summer.

So to my fellow denizens of Cold Weather Territory, I say don't be taken in by the travesty that is the vernal equinox.

We ain't out of the woods yet.