seasons

In this case, the question is: How many days until spring?

This also means we have about one more month when snow is possible, after which it becomes exceedingly unlikely through mid and late March and all but impossible by April.

Though we have had snow in April.

Also, it’s only 34 days–just over a month–until accursed Pacific Standard Time gives way to better Pacific Daylight Time. This is all to say that I’ve had my fill of winter, and bring on the warmer weather and longer days.

That is all.

While 2020 has been a benighted hellscape, the seasons have pretty much come and gone as they normally would.

Here is my indisputable ranking of seasons from best to worst. INDISPUTABLE.

1. Summer. The days are long. It’s warm but rarely too hot (I mean, people in Death Valley may feel differently, but in the Lower Mainland the really hot days amount to a handful per summer). Everything is lush and green. There is something soothing about walking through a park on a pleasantly warm summer afternoon and something almost magical about watching dusk come late as you sit outside, enjoying the warmth of the evening. Summer is the best.
2. Spring. Spring is like a low rent version of summer. The best part is the part that’s closest to summer, in June. But it’s also nice for a few other reasons: The switch back to Daylight Saving Time restores actual light to early evening. The trees begin to bud and flower. The brown of the world begins to change back to green. It gets warmer. You no longer have to wear three layers to go outside.
3. Fall. The first part of fall is basically the last part of summer, which is aces. This is followed by a transition period that I would actually rank higher than most of spring, where the weather can be pretty nice and the trees look spectacular as leaves start to change color. Some years this period only seems to last a few weeks, then it gets colder, wetter and of course, the switch back to Standard Time, murdering the chance of any outdoor activities in the evening that can’t be done in the dark for months. Fall also gets negative points for leading into the worst season of all…
4. Winter. Come on, this is no contest. Winter sucks. It’s cold, it rains all the time, the days are stupidly short, the landscape is bleak and barren and there’s always a chance of snow. Winter only exists to make the other seasons look good in comparison (people in Death Valley may feel differently).

After writing this post, I thought to myself, I’m pretty sure I’ve ranked the seasons before–and I have! Here’s the post, in which I pretty much say the same things, often down to the exact same phrasing: Seasons in the sun (and rain and wind and occasionally snow). Like the seasons, my posts keep coming back every year (or five).