The third week of April has arrived in Thunder Bay, and with it comes that classic, slightly comical split-screen of the season. On one side of town, front lawns are already bare and ready for rakes, sunshine, and that first satisfying cleanup of the year. On the other side, stubborn snow piles — the ones that spent all winter hiding in the shade — are still clinging on like they paid rent.

It’s the annual rite of Spring in the north: some neighbours are already getting a jump on the season… while others are standing at the edge of a three-foot snowbank, hands on hips, waiting for nature to finish the job.

But this week brings a real shift. With mild, steady temperatures and decent daytime warmth, we’re finally seeing the kind of melt that sticks. The kind where the snow doesn’t just shrink — it gives up. Driveways clear. Sidewalks reappear. Lawns will soon start showing patches of green instead of patches of ice.

And that’s the moment Thunder Bay waits for every year. The moment when you can feel spring not just on the calendar, but in the air — in the drip of eavestroughs, the softening ground, and the first brave robins hopping across whatever lawn happens to be snow-free.

If this week’s trend holds, we’ll be packing away the shovels, rolling out the rakes, and officially calling it:  Spring has finally arrived in Thunder Bay.