Welcome to the last weekend of winter — and the first weekend of spring!
Curiously, the winter end of the weekend, Saturday, has more of a springlike forecast (temperatures in the mid 70s, chance of rain), while Sunday is looking more late winter, with a high around 60 under crisp skies. That said, here’s a bit of what’s going on:
We love spring. It’s a time of rebirth, of action after a winter, for many, of inactivity. Warming temperatures and a natural world come back to life put us in a mind to do the same.
One way to make that happen? Become a hiker.
OK, maybe you have hiked. Maybe a friend convinced you to go for a short hike last year. Maybe you even did a New Year’s Day hike. We’re not talking about sampling the product. We’re talking about becoming an avid, hiking-boot-owning, guide-book-wielding, join-the-American-Hiking-Society hiker. A bonafide hiker.
The news for this weekend is the weather. Don’t make plans for Saturday morning, do make plans to enjoy the rest of the weekend, a cool, sun-filled winter-like weekend.
Saturday morning — the exact time depends upon where you live — a cold front moves in, the kind of cold front ushered in by gusty winds, thunderstorms, possibly tornadoes. Then, sun — and temperatures that will drop into the upper 30s by late afternoon. Temperatures will drop into the low 20s overnight Saturday, rising only into the mid-40s on Sunday. Thus, you might want to reconsider the 9 a.m. Volunteer Days Saturday at Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve and Carvers Creek State Park, but you should be OK for the …
On Sunday, we get our evenings back.
At 2 a.m., we spring ahead, setting our clocks forward by an hour and advancing sunset accordingly. Today, the sun sets at 6:19 p.m.; Sunday, it won’t go down until 7:22 p.m. And that’s just sunset; we’ll still have lingering light for another 20-25 minutes or so.
In Wednesday’s blog — “This Week, It’s All About Welcoming Spring” — we pretty much spelled out what this weekend should be about, so we’ll keep this short. First, the weather:
Weather: Saturday, expect partly sunny skies and temperatures around 70, Sunday, slightly sunnier skies and temperatures near 80. A great weekend to enjoy the waning days of winter.
