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Zach McLaughlin 강사 칼럼

The start of spring…

주간 토픽: What marks the start of spring in your country?

2023년 3월 7일

is still a long way off in Canada, but here’s how we’ll know when it arrives:

  • The sun returns! Winter tends to be quite overcast and dreary, so the return of bright, sunny days is a sign that spring is on its way!
  • Animals emerge! With the sun and warmth, many animals that hibernate during the winter start to emerge and look for food. We start to see more squirrels, raccoons, and other hungry mammals roaming around.
  • While many birds hang around during the Canadian winter, migratory birds like Canada geese fly south during the winter and return with the spring, so the honking sound of flocks of geese returning is surely one of the sounds of spring. (By the way, if you visit Canada, stay away from the Canada geese. They can be quite… confrontational!) 
  • Colour returns! Daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths are some of the early-blooming flowers that herald spring here, sometimes even pushing up through the snow. Spring plants need to be tough because snow and freezing temperatures can suddenly return in April and even early May. The old saying is “April showers bring May flowers,” but April snow is common, too!
  • It can be difficult to tell when the real spring arrives in many parts of Canada because we tend to go through several “fake” springs, with temperatures rising into the double digits before plunging down below zero again. By mid-May, however, all the snow has typically melted and temperatures stay positive. In areas that get a lot of snow, the spring melt can result in flooding, and the water level in creeks and rivers can rise significantly, so it’s best to stay away from them in the spring. One road near my parents home is sometimes underwater in the spring!
  • Watch out! All kinds of things are revealed when the snow melts in the spring. In the city, lots of dirt, stones, and garbage appear on the streets, especially where large snowbanks were, but the thing that you really have to watch out for is thawing dog poop! Yikes!  
  • The Victoria Day long weekend (which is a holiday marking the birthday of Queen Victoria), also called “May two-four long weekend,” is when most Canadians feel safe to start planting their garden, opening their cottages, cleaning their pools, and other outdoor activities done in spring in preparation for summer. At this time, many people do a big spring cleaning in and around their homes. For me, that includes cleaning my windows and setting up the furniture on my balcony, and for my parents, who live in the countryside, it means cleaning up a lot of dead leaves and branches that were buried under the snow during the winter. 

We still have a month or two of cold weather and snow here in Canada, but I’m looking forward to spring already. Who knows, maybe it will come a bit sooner this year. Here’s hoping!


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