Goodbye and good riddance to snow, cold and ice
Much of the country is getting relief this morning from the brutally cold winter. A higher jet stream is bringing much-needed warmth to the Midwest, which is spreading to other parts of the country. In Massachusetts, chunks of ice are washing up on the coast of Cape Cod, but they won't last long.
Temperatures in New York City were above 60 degrees on Wednesday, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.
To say it has been anything but a long, cold winter of discontent would be disservice to the millions of Americans who've slid, shoveled and wondered whether this season would ever end.
"My back hurts, my neighbor's back hurts, everybody's back hurts," a man in Boston said.
For Bostonians, spring couldn't get here soon enough, where February became the snowiest month on record. The city smashed the monthly snowfall record by 20 inches, Super Bowl celebrations were postponed and residents digging cars from drifts were offered little encouragement their parking space would be spared by the sanitation department.
Our team of CBS News reporters has been there all along, and we tried to find the lighter side of winter's darkest and coldest days.
"This one is one of my personal favorites. Kind of a cross between Nanook of the North and Yosemite Sam," CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds said last month, sporting a beard mask.
This week, a welcome thaw is underway and greener pastures are coming into view. The meltdown has begun in Boston, the gloves are coming off in Chicago, and in New York, they're jumping for joy at the prospect that this wicked winter, at long last, is nearing its end.
The official first day of spring is March 20, so for those of you who are superstitious, you may want to knock on wood or send good thoughts to Mother Nature.