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Some things I noticed this week… a robin flitting about on my lawn, trees beginning to leaf, and the yellow jacket hedge beginning to bloom behind the condos… and daffodils poking their heads through the ground. It’s a sign that spring is on its way.

The first day of March 2025 is Saturday… and then a week later, the time changes, and the evenings will get a little longer.

Have you heard: “In like a lion, out like a lamb”?

I remember times when March would blast in with crazy weather like wind and snow, and we’d cross our fingers that the lamb was right behind that lion. Some of our worst snowstorms have come in March. Thankfully, the snow never lasted long, and there was usually something green peeking out when it melted.

Mark Twain is known for saying, “In the spring I have counted 136 kinds of weather inside 24 hours.” I hadn’t heard that one before, but I believe it to be true. Most days, we don’t have a lot of variation in our weather here in Northeast Tennessee, but there are certainly spring days that start at freezing, warm up to springlike temperatures fairly quickly, flash to summer briefly in the afternoon, and cool down quickly late in the day.

There are some neat days marked on the March calendar:

• March 4: Mardi Gras, which is the final feasting day before the Christian tradition of Lent.
• March 9: Daylight saving time begins, even where they said it wasn’t happening anymore. Don’t forget to “spring forward” and set the clocks one hour ahead, or you may find yourself late to everything!
• March 14: Worm Moon. The new full moon, known as the Worm Moon, will occur on Friday, March 14, Eastern time, at 11:55 p.m. What makes it even more special is that the Full Worm Moon will undergo a total lunar eclipse.
• March 17: St. Patrick’s Day—obviously all things green and fun, and don’t forget the leprechauns… and wear something green.
• March 20: Spring begins. The daylight hours equal nighttime hours.
• March 29-31: Borrowing Days. According to lore, the last three days of March have a reputation for being stormy.

Also, did you know that March is National Umbrella Month?

You also may have heard the weather proverb, “If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb,” meaning that if the month starts off stormy, it will end with mild weather. There is, however, a different interpretation: The constellation Leo, the lion, rises in the east at the beginning of March. Thus, the month “comes in like a lion,” while Aries, the ram, sets in the west at the end of the month, and hence, the month “will go out like a lamb.”

Some more March folklore:

• A wet spring, a dry harvest.
• Thunder in spring, cold will bring.
• So many mists in March you see, so many frosts in May will be.

March has come to symbolize the season of green, growth, and good spirits. A time when the light sticks around a little longer before the sun sets and the weather gets just a touch milder.

No matter what you’re reflecting on or celebrating this March, I think we can all agree that spring is such a great time for a fresh restart. A chance to dust out the figurative cobwebs and open the windows to possibility—and hope. Hope for a better day, a better month, and a better world.