From a weather folklore point of view, March 2021 will come in more like a lamb than a lion.
Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said a very cold and snowy February came to a close over the weekend with temperatures well above seasonal. Highs near 10 C, 50 F, were recorded.
He said while cold and blustery conditions return Monday, the first part of March overall looks rather tame.
"Normal highs for this time of year are about plus 2 Celsius, overnight lows about minus 7, and as we get further into the first week of March we anticipate daytime highs getting up warmer than five, six, seven degrees Celsius even on some days," said Coulson. "It also looks like a bit of a quieter situation with respect to the storm track."
Coulson said the jet stream is moving further north.
"For a lot of the month of February the jet stream was fairly far south, that was the influence of the polar vortex, the very cold air coming down from the high Arctic and influencing the weather across the Prairies and Ontario, and Quebec and all the way down into Texas."
A lot more snow than usual fell in February in the Sarnia area. Coulson said one of their volunteer weather sites near Sarnia reported 45.7 centimetres, 18 inches of snow during the month.
"The long-term snowfall average for February is 24.9 centimetres, but not a lot of rain, we normally get about 26.4 millimetres of rain in the month of February but only a couple of millimetres this year, if that," he said.
Pandemic and weather-weary residents can look forward to the official arrival of the spring season Saturday, March 20 at 5:37 a.m.
-With files from Josh Boyce