Spring begins Thursday, but winter refuses to go away

What a difference a day makes — or not.

Spring officially arrives at 12:57 p.m. Thursday. While the day ushers in a change of season, in Montreal, it will be more of the same rollercoaster we’ve been on all month: cold, blustery, alternating between rain and flurries, below freezing and above zero.

Call it the neverendum winter, or invoke the dreaded phrase “polar vortex.” Any way you slice it, winter has been a hot topic of conversation this year.

The numbers don’t lie. In Quebec City, this has been the coldest winter in 10 years, Environment Canada meteorologist André Cantin said. But not in Montreal. “It was quite cold in Montreal, but not a record,” Cantin said. “December, January and February were one to two degrees below normal. March, which is not over yet, has been 5.5 degrees below normal, so this month qualifies as very cold.”

So what can we expect in the first days of spring 2014?

How about a mix of rain and snow on Thursday, with winds gusting up to 60 kilometres an hour in the afternoon and a high of 4 C.

Periods of snow are forecast for Friday. Sigh. Same for Saturday. Groan.

Sunday will be sunny, hurrah — oh, but with a low of -11 C and a high of -6 C.

Next week dawns sunny on Monday, but with a low of -13 C and a high of -3 C.

Regional norms for this time of year: a low of -5 C and a high of 4 C.

The record highs and lows for March 20? A high of 23.5 C a mere two years ago, in 2012, and a teethchattering low of -17.8 C back in 1949.

Silver lining? The sun will rise at 6:49 a.m. Thursday and set at 7:01 p.m., so there are actually more minutes of daylight than night.