With abundant sunshine and temperatures twenty and more degrees above normal the past three days, 
there was no conversation in southern New England that did not begin with a swoon of delight over weather that caused many people to shed their coats and find a pair of shorts. The spring equinox occurred around mid day on Saturday, but the new season made its presence known the day before when the thermometer hit 73, besting a record set in 1927 by six degrees.
Today’s Hartford Courant called it “a nearly perfect spring weekend,” and based on the chatter in offices, at the supermarket or over the backyard fence it seems the paper might have hit on the one item lacking controversy in these contentious times. But even the early arrival of what might be humanity’s most anticipated moment of the year has its downside.
The annual flow of maple sap in these parts has dried up and no steam rises from area sugarhouses. The inviting weather that’s eased heating bills, caused crocuses to pop and drew thousands to local 
hiking and biking trails has been the death knell for a dismal maple sugaring season. Sap requires the regular contrast between freezing nights and days in the mid forties to maximize flow. This season started too cold in early February and then stayed too warm at night for much of March. Up north conditions may be different, but in Connecticut it’s time to pull the taps, clean up, and dream about next year which sugar makers, as native optimists, always figure is bound to be better.
Weather is fickle, but so are people. Good weather has more to do with the observer than temperature, clouds, or wind.
