Rare Atmospheric Conditions for February

On Saturday, the residents of northeastern Illinois got a few hours' furlough from winter. Just stepping outside was a pleasure. So was driving with the window down a little.

Sunday was colder, but this morning I walked around the neighborhood comfortably without cap or gloves. Icy spots still remain here and there on the sidewalk to slip up the unwary, but mostly the way is clear. Puddles are everywhere. The receding snow has uncovered bottles, cans, fast-food wrappers, unread newspapers soaked through, dog turds and other debris. Archipelagos of dirty snow are still resisting the warmup trend, and some may hang on till the next snow cover, but mostly the ground is brown, muddy and ugly.

Who cares, if it's warm. Tomorrow is supposed to be a slice of April or even May. I expect winter to slap us down again after that.