The calendar says spring arrived today. Montreal, currently under a special weather statement with plenty more snow on the way and a week of flurries to follow, did not get the memo.
This is not exactly a surprise. Spring in Montreal has never been a clean transition. It’s more of a long, drawn-out negotiation between winter and something resembling warmth, with winter taking the lead well into April. As a result, locals know better than to get too excited when March 20 rolls around.
We instead rely on a few small, distinctly Montreal signals that the season is actually turning. The ones you can see, smell, and occasionally have to swerve around on your way to work.
With that in mind, we recently asked MTL Blog’s Facebook followers what they consider a sure sign that spring has actually arrived in the city, and they delivered.
“The potholes emerge in full force”
Ask any local driver, and they’ll tell you every season is pothole season. Unfortunately, the city’s craters get especially bad as temperatures fluctuate. The ice and snow may be gone, but a new batch of obstacles is about to be unveiled.
Someone is eating on a terrasse in a tuque
As one commenter put it, spring is here “when Montrealers start dining on terraces with scarves and tuques on just because it’s sunny and +5°C.”
If you haven’t seen this person yet, give it about a week.
The orange cones reappear
“Construction starts,” wrote one follower. “Orange cones around the corner streets,” added another.
Construction season in Montreal doesn’t so much begin as resurface. And once it gets warm enough to resume work, it doesn’t end until winter returns.
The birds are back, and so is what they leave behind
“First bird droppings on the car. Then it’s on,” one user noted.
Hard to argue with that as a benchmark.
The sidewalk thaws out, in every sense
Everything the snow was hiding is now very much visible, including what one comment calls “freshly thawed doggy turds!”
The St. Lawrence starts breaking up
Rather than looking at what month we’re in, some people just observe how much of the Fleuve St-Laurent has thawed.
The tax bill lands
“Almost every year, I feel a spring after paying our income tax,” one user noted.
Surviving Quebec winter and tax season in the same stretch should earn you some sort of prize.
People start acting friendly again
“I don’t know anymore, I’m confused, but people have been getting happy and friendly and smiling, so it’s close,” wrote one user.
After months of staring at the ground and bracing against the wind, Montrealers start making eye contact with one another again. By the time summer rolls around, you might even hear a “bonjour.”