Newborn lamb (Photo 134738467 © Chriskiely | Dreamstime.com)

By Kevin Rothwell

Warmer than normal winter

March comes in like a lamb

Feb 27, 2021 | 6:00 AM

If March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion according to folklore.

The Farmers Almanac suggests those beliefs often included ideas that there should be a balance in weather and life. So, if a month came in bad (roaring like a lion), it should go out good and calm (docile, like a lamb).

With March being such a changeable month, in which we can see warm spring-like temperatures or late-season snowstorms, you can understand how this saying might hold true in some instances.

So if there is any truth to the saying there might be a lot of roaring at the end of the month in the Okanagan.

In the meteorological world, March 1 is considered the first day of spring, and the day when the overview of the winter past is released by Environment Canada.

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“The forecast for today is great with a high of about 8 or 9 degrees, we have done that change where we have gone from mid winter to early spring, so it’s definitely coming in like a lamb,” Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist told Vernon Matters.

The winter of 2020/21 will likely go down as average to above average for cold.

“Climate change, a lack of sea ice in the Arctic…a few things added up to give us a fairly warm winter,” Lundquist noted.

February, with the only real cold snap of the winter, he said, will likely go down as the only below average month for temperature.

“As for spring, looking at March, it has the potential to be below average, but it is still the month that has the most rapid acceleration of temperature from one end to the other. Even if it’s cooler, we are still in a warming trend.” Lundquist added.

Daytime high temperatures and night time lows for this week are expected to run four degrees higher than the historical average of daytime maximums of 5 C and nightime minimums of -4 C.