The Final Countdown to Spring

The winds of March came bearing a message. Winter is not done yet.
 
Although March started off as a lamb on Tuesday with sunny skies and mild temperatures into the 50s, the roar of the lion could be felt by the end of the week. Cold air retuned along with snow and slippery conditions. About an inch of snow fell around Lower New York Bay today and weather forecasters are calling for snow showers late Saturday night.
 
If your wish is for warmer weather, take heart. The first day of spring will soon arrive. The spring vernal equinox takes place on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 12:30 am EDT.  It's one of only two days (the other being the autumn equinox) when the Earth’s axis neither tilts towards or away from the sun providing equal amounts of daylight and darkness: twelve hours of sunshine and twelve hours of nighttime.
 
As daylight increases, so does the amount of heat absorbed by the soil and sky. The thermometer’s response is marked by warmer temperatures in the air and water, and all life begins to stir outside.
 
But don’t give up on Old Man Winter just yet. There is a reason why this month has the familiar term, the “winds of March.” Wild animals, plants and people better get used to a roller coaster ride of weather. March is often a changeable month or a transitional time. We can feel warm spring-like temperatures one day and late-season snowstorms another day. Loud and stormy weather with strong winds blowing the season open with the promise of flowering forsythia bushes and the shrieking mating calls of little amphibious 
Spring peepers.