It was sunny! It was warm. It was warmer than normal.
Which is kind of the new normal.
(It got up to 27°C.)
Here is a cat keeping cool (and airborne) in the snow.
start of the season musings
Summer 2025 is here! It’s cool and rain threatens.
The forecast today is for intermittent showers and a high of 17C, which is a few degrees below normal.
It’s also the first day of summer.
How you feel about this forecast will depend on how you view summer in general. A lot of people are in the “Summer is too hot, I hate it” camp, so they will delight in the cooler temperatures. They may be less thrilled with the rain, but something something prevents forest fires. Even though that doesn’t really apply to an urban area like Metro Vancouver.
For me, I just take whatever we get. We’ll have warmer and sunnier days and I will enjoy them, slathered in sunblock and whatnot.
In the meantime, the current conditions are actually pretty decent for running. The rain can hold off, though.
The first day of spring, 2025 edition
It’s the first day of spring!
The weather is a bit cool, with clouds and a little sun occasionally poking through. It will probably shower at some point. Such is March. (Edit: It started raining before I finished making this post.)
But I went for a walk and touched trees. Here are a few photos.
64 days till spring!
And yes, I am totally counting. For today, at least.
(The reality is, I’m reasonably content as long as we don’t get the S-word. Also, I will start writing more substantial posts soon™.)
It’s the first day of winter! (2024)
Weather:
Still better than snow! Also, that high temperature is 5C above normal, so it is mild up in the hizzy, which is even better (except for all the rain).
It’s also the shortest day of the year, but given current conditions, it may be a bit tricky to notice.
Here, again, is a cat in the snow we will not be seeing today:
It’s the first day of fall, 2024 edition
Boo.
That is all.
Well, and a cat:
Okay, a little more:
Today’s forecast is light showers and a high of 18, which is a bit cooler than normal. Tuesday they claim a high of 25 (not a record, but 5 degrees warmer than average) and mostly sunny. The point is we have reached the season of variable weather, where it could be sunny and almost summer-like (good fall) or wet and cool (not Fonzie cool, the other kind), which is bad fall. But the seasons are relentless and there’s no avoiding them, so instead I will look forward to drinking tea, keeping warm and enjoying runs where I don’t have to worry about Dry Mouth Syndrome. See? Positive!
It’s the first day of summer (2024) as we know it (and I feel adequate)
Good news: My favourite season has arrived. Yay! Yes yes, climate change, heat domes, etc. I don’t care, summer is still my favourite season.
Bad news: I am still sick, though improved. I was able to go out and aboot without any issue. At home, I was coughing occasionally, mostly when sitting in certain specific positions that told my body, “Now is the time to cough.” They were all the most comfortable positions, too. 🙁
Neither good nor bad news: The weather today was very summer-like, with a high temperature of 28°C and “felt like 32”. It was pretty warm compared to what we’ve been getting. We’ll get one more day of sun before YMS (Yet More Showers). I don’t think I’ve ever seen grass so lush and green on June 20th before.
Anyway, here is another shot of Hume Park, this time the lower part.
Yay, spring! (2024 edition)
Spring is starting out strong this year, as it is coinciding with the last bit of the unusually warm weather we’ve had over the last few days. It’ll be back to seasonal or seasonal-ish after that.
For now, though, it is pleasant and sunny and things are getting greener (in a good way).
And now, a spring bunny:
Hooray for more daylight
It’s my annual post celebrating the arrival of Daylight Saving Time, which should totally be permanent but isn’t because politicians are dum-dums.
I will cherish that extra hour of light this evening by going out and revelling in the lightness of it all. Unless it’s raining, in which case I’ll be inside and hiding.
March 2024: The Possibilities
March is a fun month, but also weird and sometimes horrible. Behold my list (with semi-random bold highlights):
- We switch back to Daylight Saving Time, aka Proper Time, and gain back an extra hour of light in the evening (as of March 10). This is good for birding and just not being in the dark as much.
- Spring officially begins (on March 19). I saw buds on trees back in January, so spring is really already underway, despite a few attempts at snow since then (Mother Nature is acting more like Mother from the terrible Police song of the same name right now).
- Even without DST, daylight is stretching out longer into the evening.
- Temperatures start getting milder. T-shirt weather soon! (More seriously, t-shirts become feasible outdoors as soon as next month, barring climate change hijinks that could genuinely push this into March).
- A downside: Starting with February, the amount of precipitation goes down every month until September, when it starts going back up–except for March. March is an anomaly, where it is wetter than February. The downward trend resumes in April.
- Speaking of, it is 3°C and raining as I type this, with a high of 7 forecast (two degrees off the average). Winter is reminding us it’s still official for 17 more days.
- But also speaking of, March is where the last chance for real snow that sticks to the ground and needs to be shovelled, comes to an end. Looking at the 10-day forecast, it seems we are safe from any more snow accumulations for Winter 2023-24, though a few flakes may fall over the next few days here and there, just to annoy everyone.
Here’s the historic average for rainfall. It’s for New Westminster, but I checked, and it’s accurate for the whole Lower Mainland1Or Metro Vancouver, if you prefer to be all official about it.
And with all that said, here is my haiku for March.
Haiku for March Warmer and brighter But still the rain won't let up Take what you can get
It’s the first day of fall, 2023 edition
Unlike the start of last fall, which turned out to really be the beginning of a one-month extension of a hot and humid summer, Fall 2023 has started out gray, with threats of showers in the afternoon, and a high temperature in the teens (17C).
Which is to say: Boo. I was prepared for a few more weeks of sun. I am not prepared for The Rains. Admittedly, lousy weather may help me be more productive at my various creative pursuits, though, because I won’t want to go outside.
Also, it’s time to revisit my evergreen post on the three seasons of fall.
It’s the first day of summer, 2023 edition
It’s the first day of summer, yay!
It’s cloudy and slightly cooler than normal. Yay! It’s better than a heat dome, I guess.
However, the 10-day forecast currently1It’s still June for nine more days, so I assume nothing here has no precipitation in it. Could this be the start of our allegedly hot ‘n dry summer? Let’s find out!
