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The rain washed the remains of winter away from the Rideau River and this week's unprecedented heatwave from Winnipeg to Halifax did the rest. There's no ice left now. On Petrie Island, on the Ottawa, families have been building sandcastles on the beach. Our local riverside parks, suddenly full of people picnicking on the park benches and running along in shorts, were muddy at the start of the week; the mud is drying up now. The buds on the maple trees have burst open; maple syrup yields are reportedly much lower than usual this year as the sap rising season was so short. Frogs and butterflies have been spotted and the migrant birds are settling in for the summer. Dust is settling too, all over the city.

The end of March is predicted to be back to normal.