TORONTO – Spring officially arrived Wednesday morning, although it didn’t feel like it. The signs of winter will continue to hover, with flurries expected until at least Saturday.

Spring arrived at 7:02 a.m. EDT.

According to the forecast, Wednesday will be mainly cloudy and windy, with flurries, a few sunny breaks, and a high of 0 C. The record high for a March 20 was almost 22 C, set in 2012.

“Why aren’t we into any warm air right now? The jet stream is a big player with this — it’s that river of air that divides the warm air from the cold air, and helps to guide systems to us. Of course, we’ve been dealing with a lot more system snow this winter,” 680News meteorologist Jill Taylor said.

Taylor said the cutoff for snow is April 18, but said snow is still possible into May.

In terms of when the GTA can expect a more spring-like situation, Taylor said, “it will take its time reaching us.”

“It may be the end of the month, even into the start of April before we get some warmer air moving over us,” she added.

The CN Tower marked the arrival of spring by lighting up in green and yellow Wednesday morning. The lighting was then decreased for the spring bird migration.

680News’ sister station KiSS 92.5 is getting into the spirit as well, using the hashtag #SayOneThingtoWinter on Twitter.

 

Environment Canada’s senior climatologist Dave Phillips told 680News the GTA shouldn’t expect a dramatic transformation from winter to spring right away.

“We have to be a little bit more patient. When you look at the numbers in the last 75 years, there’s never been a spring without snow in the Toronto area. So I still think we’ll be counting snowflakes before we can write the final chapter on winter this year,” Phillips said.

He described this time of year like a video game “weather wars” — as southerly air battling the dark forces of cold.

Phillips said it’s a little too much to expect the kind of temperatures the GTA had last year at this time — that is, patio weather at around 26 C.

However, he said April looks like it will be warmer and drier than normal.

Wednesday is also the vernal equinox — the day that comes the closest to offering equal amounts of sunlight and darkness all over the world.

It’s also the undeclared International Day of Happiness — the goal is to “promote happiness in the lives of human beings around the world.”