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Warm weather is finally here but won’t jinx it by planting outdoors

It has taken months to arrive in many ways although, officially, it has been here for four weeks.

Yes I am talking about the so-called Spring many of us have been waiting for. Finally this past weekend, leaves appeared on the currants and other small bushes and you can actually see green in the grass.

The Sandhill Cranes are once again echoing their cries across the skies and migratory ducks and birds are passing through. Yet for me, the first day of nice weather was without a doubt on the weekend.  It was so great to feel the warmth of the sun without a cold wind and be able to feel like we are coming out of the long cold months of winter.

While that may now be the case, in the valley there is still a ton of snow in the mountains and when talking to people it seems to be a general belief that we could be in for some serious flooding if the conditions turned a certain direction this summer. While it has been raining at lower elevations it has still been snowing in the mountains.

Add to the fact we had a really decent snowpack already this year and one would have to hope that things melt gradually. If not, many people throughout the Northwest could be in danger of flooding again this year.

Strange weather seems to be the norm across Canada this year with Vancouver experiencing the coldest April on record, Alberta and Ontario are also out of the norm this year and even recently massive snowfalls with more than a foot last week alone.

The prairies have already had massive flooding in parts and experts say all of this could only be the beginning.

While they call it ‘Climate Change’ now instead of global warming, one thing seems to be certain, the times and the weather are a-changing.

For me, I do hope the weather continues to stay warmer as the garden is calling and it would be great to have a long summer to grow corn and pumpkins amongst other things. Yet, the snow finally left the last corner of ours last weekend and although the plants we started indoors are growing well and could be planted outside anytime now, I think I will wait another few weeks to see if we really are going to find summer this year.

On the lighter side, by this time last year I was already cutting the grass and that went on until the end of October so a few extra weeks off from that weekly chore is something positive to enjoy.

Shannon Hurst writes the weekly My Town column and is the regular correspondent for the Three Rivers Report