Spring has sprung across Canada, but residents across most of the country would never know it as they have endured a second-consecutive bitter winter.
There are many reasons for living in the South Okanagan, but the amazing weather continues to be at the top of the list for most of us.
This past Saturday, hundreds of Osoyoos residents flocked to the downtown core to participate in the annual Easter Eggstravaganza event.
Many of them were wearing T-shirts and shorts as the incredible string of beautiful spring weather we have enjoyed over the past several weeks continued.
While the weather is traditionally very mild for most of the winter, this past winter was exceptionally kind to all local residents.
With the exception of a wicked snowstorm that blanketed Osoyoos and most of the Okanagan Valley early in the new year, there was hardly any precipitation at all this past winter.
You could count the number of times you had to shovel snow in Osoyoos on one hand between November and April.
While it remained exceptionally gloomy – as it often does during the long winter months – we were once again blessed with very mild temperatures throughout the winter.
And the beautiful weather has continued into the spring with many days of warm sunshine and wonderful blue skies blessing us on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, in most of the rest of Canada, millions of residents have done nothing but freeze and shovel snow for much of the past five months.
It almost doesn’t seem fair that so much of the rest of Canada has had to endure another bitter and nasty winter for the second-straight year.
Mother Nature has once again been very cruel to almost all points east of British Columbia since late fall.
There have been record or near-record snowfalls throughout large parts of Atlantic Canada.
And Ontario had to endure the coldest February in recorded history.
Even Toronto, Canada’s largest city, had to endure bitter temperatures throughout most of this past winter.
The weather in southern Ontario is often miserable during the winter months with regular doses of rain, sleet and blowing wind.
But it’s seldom bitterly cold.
There were only a handful of days during the month of February when the temperatures didn’t dip below minus 30 and as cold as minus 40 in “good ole Turawna”.
While many Osoyoos residents have been able to venture outside to play a round of golf and get a fantastic start on their gardens, millions of Canadians can only dream about birds chirping and huge piles of snow disappearing.
We all know how fortunate we are to be able to call the South Okanagan home.
There’s an endless list of reasons why people want to live here.
But our beautiful weather and mild winters will always rank near the top and continue to make us the envy of millions of freezing and fed up Canadians.
A giant thank you to Mother Nature for being so kind to us again.
