Ben Lowry: Northern Ireland is now into spring and its seasonal joys, before the month of February is out
Look at the picture on this story – taken in Belfast city centre on this glorious sunny spring morning.
We are now into that season, even though it does not in fact technically begin until tomorrow – or by some accounts until the equinox (on March 20 this year).
I had a sudden sense of spring this year when walking into a bathroom, a day after one of the many cold and wet and miserable phases we had this month.
It was bright out through the opaque window, which was partly open, and there was sunshine outside that seemed to have a strength to it.
February is the month in which we go from the deep darkness of the end of January to the brightness of March.
The sun will not set this evening in Belfast until around 5.57pm. On sunny days at the end of February it can be bright well after 6pm.
There are now four fabulous months in which nature and life fully returns and in which the days keep getting longer until that stops at the end of June. And while the days will have turned in July, that month is so bright that you don’t really notice it (well, I do!).
There is another looming joy: April and May not only have ever expanding daylight, they have the highest percentage of sunshine of the 12 months in the calendar.
In other words, not just more light but a bigger chunk of it will be sunny light.
Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter editor