A time honored Toronto …. no an Ontario ritual … okay, a Canadian tradition is to wait for Spring to officially arrive. Or more explicitly, for Winter to be gone completely. No frosty mornings, nor mid day snow flurries, no night time ice patches on the roads. You would think in this unmistakable era of Global Warming, Winter would make a polite and complete exit each March 21st. But no. Winter has gotten into the habit of twisting the Jet Stream like a toy balloon for its own purposes which appears to be to bring the Arctic North diving frigidly South for a bit of Loki-like mischief.

What Proof of Hibernal Harms?

Oh but you say, Torontonians are used to Spring not arriving until mid-May. That is the problem! And what better proof of Winter malingering than this past weekend. Here is what you would expect to see in the fourth week of April:

A trip to Toronto Parks along Rosedale Valley Road, then Bay and finally Yonge at Ramsden Park revealed what Toronto got the 5th week of Spring:

A stripping of the all the leaf buds by a cunning late attack of winter chills in the first 3 weeks of April. For fans of the Norse gods it had all the earmarks of Loki-like mischief – trees with the look of January barrenness in Spring when the pastel yellows, ochres, and light greens should be on full display cheering winter-worn spirits.