Saturday comes across as too cold for spring, too sunny for winter

March welds our February, which was a time of snow, ice and cold, to our April, which begins the Washington Nationals’ Major League Baseball season.

Opening Day right here, for what is actually a summer time sport, is about for April 1.

On Saturday morning, the mercury sank to a persuasively wintry and too-cold-to-play 29 levels.

That was three beneath the freezing level, and colder than many days earlier this 12 months.

But in Washington, the official excessive temperature climbed to 49 levels, one wanting the extra springlike 50s. It was solely three beneath the typical for March 6 right here, which is 52.

Saturday was additionally comparatively clear. It let the steadily strengthening March solar do its stuff.

Without many clouds to impede the solar’s rays, the thousands and thousands of miles of house between Earth and solar couldn’t cease the beams from warming us.

When we felt it, that photo voltaic heat supplied silent assurance of the arrival of spring.

It mentioned that no matter low temperature had been recorded at 6:40 a.m., brighter and, not less than for many people, extra nice days awaited.

Saturday’s story, nonetheless, couldn’t be so rapidly packaged and put to relaxation. In addition to the highs and the lows, and the smile of the solar, one other essential facet of our surroundings demanded consideration.

At its peak, it blew out of the northwest at 24 mph. At least as soon as, it gusted as excessive as 32.

With such figures, even these of us culturally conditioned to shrug off wind as solely to be anticipated from March could have paused to take word.

Just earlier than midday, when the thermometer registered 43 levels, scientific wind-chill calculations supported any claims that it however felt as although we had been enduring a extra wintry 36.