Jody Victor : We are happy to say "Spring has Sprung!" In Northeast Ohio it has been a wonderful beginning to a hopefully fine-weathered season. But it is Ohio, and the weather will change.

Spring is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. Astronomically, it begins with the spring equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, and September 23 in the Southern Hemisphere), and ends with the summer solstice (around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and December 21 in the Southern Hemisphere). In meteorology, it is by convention instead counted as the whole months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere. However, in the Irish Calendar it is counted as the whole months of February, March and April.

Severe weather most often occurs during the spring, 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 due to snow melt, many times accelerated by warm rains. In the united States, Tornado Alley is most active by far this time of year, especially since the Rocky Mountains prevent the surging hot and cold air masses from spreading westward and instead force them directly at each other. Besides tornadoes, super cell thunderstorms can also produce dangerously large hail and very high winds, for which a severe thunderstorm warning or even tornado warning is usually issued. Often, spring storms trigger dozens of warnings, one right after the other, often simultaneously along a line hundreds of miles or kilometers long. Even more so than winter, the jet streams play an important role in severe weather in the springtime.

Some of the worst blizzards have occurred in the spring, including the Great Blizzard of 1993, which brought hurricane conditions and then light snow to northern Florida on March 13, and deposited up to five feet of snow in parts of the Appalachian Mountains. A massive springtime "upslope" winter storm in 2003 brought up to eleven feet of snow to parts of Colorado and three feet to Denver, which gets more snow in March and April (and again in October and November) than during the entire winter (December to February).

Hurricane season also begins in late spring, on May 15 in the northeastern Pacific and June 1 in the northern Atlantic. Prior to these dates, hurricanes are almost unheard of and even tropical storms are exceedingly rare, one of the earliest ever being Tropical Storm Ana in mid-April 2003.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: Where did wearing green clothes, and other uses of green for St. Patrick's Day come from? Sometime in the 19th century, as St. Patrick's Day parades were flourishing, wearing the color green became a show of commitment to Ireland. In 1962 the show of solidarity took a spectacular turn in Chicago when the city decided to dye a portion of the Chicago River green.

The tradition started when parade organizer Steve Bailey, head of a plumbers' union, noticed how a dye used to detect river pollution had stained a colleague's overalls a brilliant green. Why not, Bailey thought, turn the river green on St. Patrick's Day? So began the tradition.

The environmental impact of the dye is minimal compared with sources of pollution such as bacteria from sewage-treatment plants. But a group called the Friends of the Chicago River focuses instead on turning the Chicago River into a well-known habitat full of fish, herons, turtles, and beavers. If the river becomes a wildlife haven, the thinking goes, Chicagoans won't want to dye their river green.

Historically speaking, a lot of Irish immigrants came to the United States and brought with them lots of customs and traditions, one of them being Guinness. On any given day 5.5 million pints of Guinness, the famous Irish stout, are consumed around the world. On St. Patrick's Day, that number more than doubles to 13 million pints, according to global corporate relations of Guinness.

Today, the US tradition of St. Patrick's Day parades, packed pubs, and green silliness (including green beer) has invaded Ireland with full force. The country figured out the popularity of St. Patrick's Day was a good way to boost spring tourism.

Whatever the reasons, St. Patrick's Day has become a well known, and loved holiday in the US as well as Ireland. Hope yours was fun!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Today is the 71st day of 2009 and there are 294 days left in the year. Here are some historical events for this day in history.

March 12, 1664 - England's King Charles II granted an area of land in present-day North America known as New Netherland to his brother James, the duke of York.

1864 - Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.

1912 - Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.

1930 - Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.

1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.

1938 - The Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.

1939 - Pope Pius XII was formally crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.

1947 - President Harry S. Truman established what became known as the Truman Doctrine to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.

1968 - President Lyndon B. Johnson won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, but anti-war Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota placed a strong second.

1969 - Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London.

1989 - Some 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American Flag placed on the floor as part of a student's exhibit.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : At 2 a.m. this Sunday March 8, groggy Americans will turn their clocks forward one hour, marking the beginning of Daylight Saving Time (DST) for 2009.

The Federal law that established "daylight time" in the United States does not require any area to observe daylight saving time. But if a state chooses to observe DST, it must follow the starting and ending dates set by the law. From 1986 to 2006 this was the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, but starting in 2007, it is observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, adding about a month to daylight saving time.

Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii and the territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa are the only places in the U.S. that do not observe DST but instead stay on "standard time" all year long. And if you've spent any time in the sweltering summer sun in those regions you can understand why residents don't need another hour of sunlight.

Don't forget to Spring Forward this Sunday!

Jody Victor