Coolest spring in six years

The average temperatures for the meteological spring -- defined as as the March 1-through-May 31 period -- was 53.6 in in Philadelphia, just a shade below the 30-year "normal" and sightly above the long-term averages.

The recent heat-wave notwithstanidng, it might have felt cooler than that overall.

That would would be understandable.The region has experienced an extraordinary run of warm springs.

Last year was the warmest in the 140-year period of record, with a three-month average temperature of 58.9 degrees; 2010 was No. 2, 58.0, and 2011, No. 6, 56.4.

The 140-year average is 52.7. The average for the 1981-2010 period, the basis of the "normal" value, was 53.8.

One other measure of just how warm the springs have been can be teased out of the decadal record.

Even though this was the coolest spring since 2007, the 10-year average from 2004 to 2013, 55.2, was  higher than any other 10-year period.