Spring showed up somewhat unannounced this year. Not that we weren’t reminded of it, like the last minute advisory to set our clocks ahead, but Spring got buried under a mountain of madness this year. It also didn’t feel like Spring here on the West Coast. Spring arrived in Los Angeles as a glacial chill accompanied by mysteriously threatening dark clouds; on again-off again rain that’s been pelting Southern California ever since the fires died down – leading everyone to ask “where the hell were you two weeks earlier?”.
Nonetheless, it’s Spring. And this episode of a week-long look at Spring in America in 1950 focused on Spring Fever and the physiological and emotional components that traditionally go along with Spring and in fact any season change during any give year,
All the clichés are examined and investigated where they came from and covered during this half-hour program.
According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, “spring” in the sense of the season comes from phrases such as “springing time” (14th century) and “the spring of the year”. This use is from an archaic noun meaning “act or time of springing or appearing; the first appearance; the beginning, birth, rise, or origin”. Spring as a word in general appeared via the Middle English springen, via the Old English springan. These were verbs meaning to rise up or to burst forth, (see also the modern German springen ‘jump’) and are not believed to have originally related to the season. These all originate from Proto-Germanic *sprenganan.
The beginning of spring is not always determined by fixed calendar dates. The phenological or ecological definition of spring relates to biological indicators, such as the blossoming of a range of plant species, the activities of animals, and the special smell of soil that has reached the temperature for micro flora to flourish. These indicators, along with the beginning of spring, vary according to the local climate and according to the specific weather of a particular year.[citation needed] In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the National Trust runs the #BlossomWatch campaign, which encourages people to share images of blossom with one another, as an early indicator of the arrival of the season.
Some ecologists divide the year into six seasons. In addition, ecological reckoning identifies an earlier separate prevernal (early or pre-spring) season between the hibernal and vernal seasons. This is a time when only the hardiest flowers like the crocus are in bloom, sometimes while there is still some snowcover on the ground.
Unstable spring weather may occur more often when warm air begins to invade from lower latitudes, while cold air is still pushing from the Polar regions. Flooding is also most common in and near mountainous areas during this time of year, because of snow-melt which is accelerated by warm rains. In North America, Tornado Alley is most active at this time of year, especially since the Rocky Mountains prevent the surging hot and cold air masses from spreading eastward, and instead force them into direct conflict. Besides tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms can also produce dangerously large hail and very high winds, for which a severe thunderstorm warning or tornado warning is usually issued. Even more so than in winter, the jet streams play an important role in unstable and severe Northern Hemisphere weather in springtime.
And then there’s the plain old Spring Fever which visits most everyone this time of year. A host to unpredictable things and manic behavior. All in all, Spring is a bit more complicated than we’re led to believe – and this program does its leven-best to explain it.
Enjoy, if you can sit still for long enough.
