Every February 14th I make the annual trip to the florist to pick up flowers as a sign of my love to my wife. I usually get the "can't go wrong", goto of a dozen red roses. People all over Central New York will be expressing their love on this Valentine's Day with similar gifts of affection, cards, chocolates, and fine jewelry. Love will be in the air today, and a warm day it will be.

Temperatures will climb for the second day in a row into the 40s, relaxing the grip old man winter has on Central New York. This temporary thaw is providing a retreat for the mountainous snow banks lining our streets. To put this warmth into perspective, the normal high temperature is 33 degrees today. Enjoy it, because by the time some read this article, the cold may have already returned. A sharp drop in temperatures this evening will send shivers up the spine of diners returning from their candlelit meal.

Don't cancel your evening reservations due to the return of snow showers though. Looking back, we've seen some pretty big storms on Valentine's Day. Florists had a hard time making their holiday deliveries back in 2007. 11.7" of snow fell in Syracuse on that day, part of a three day event which totaled 26.9". There were even roof collapses and as much as 39" of the white stuff in Roseboom, Otsego County. According to the National Weather Service climate page for Syracuse, the most snow ever on February 14th was in 1960 with 18".

One of the nice things about arriving at Valentine's Day is that February is already half over. Only about another month before winter officially ends. Astronomical spring officially arrives this year on March 21st. That's just 34 days away as you can see on this countdown to the equinox website.

Lately, whenever the cold and snowy winter weather has been growing long on me and I keep checking back to this site to see that in fact, the end is near.