SIGNS OF SPRING : 2012

With a purple sea of freshly-blooming crocus, a lone bee hovers above his early spring choices in Walla Walla, Wash., March 7, 2012. Warmer than average temperatures brought both the beauty of flowers and the beast of bugs out in full force.

Seemingly strange weather patterns continue to break high and low temperature records. The same patterns spawned an early tornado season in the midwestern United States and brought late season snowstorms to the west. Record snow falls and frigid temperatures characterized a particularly difficult winter across Europe with many deaths attributed to the conditions. Signs of Spring for the Northern Hemisphere (which began officially with the Vernal Equinox - March 20 - when the hours of day are approximately equal to the hours of night) like trees blossoming and flowers blooming, the shedding of winter coats and the desire of anyone -who has spent an all too long winter season indoors - to venture outside to soak up the sun.

Tourists have their picture taken at a sculpture garden of painted trees, March 13, 2012, in Chicago. Temperatures inched closer to March record highs after a mild winter.

Ed Waido feeds handfuls of potato chip leftovers to gulls at McCook Beach in East Lyme, Conn., March 9, 2012.

A Bananaquit hangs upside down to peck at a flower in the Costa Rica section of the Glass House at the Cleveland Botanical Garden in Cleveland.

Cherry blossoms of the Japanese Yoshino variety bloom along the Tidal Basin, March 19, 2012, in Washington, DC, with the Jefferson Memorial to the rear. This season celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the gift of the cherry trees from Japan to Washington, DC.

A jogger on the Santa Ana River Trail takes advantage of a beautiful day with a view of the San Gabriel Mountains (still covered with snow) from the Lincoln Avenue bridge over the Santa Ana River in Anaheim, Calif.

Trees are blossoming near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, as temperatures warm up, March 16, 2012.

College students on spring break enjoy the warm weather as they visit the beach in South Padre Island, TX, March 6, 2012.

A flower blossoms in front of the Reichstag, the seat of Germany's lower house of parliament, on a sunny spring day in Berlin, March 16, 2012.

A worker prunes blossoming trees on El Monte Way west of Dinuba, CA, March 1, 2012.

Crocuses are covered with raindrops, Feb. 28, 2012 in Dresden, eastern Germany. The first signs of spring bloom across the country.

Bees converge on a blossom in an orchard along a highway near Selma, CA, March 1, 2012. With spring on the way, the orchards in Fresno County are in full bloom with pink and white blossoms in preparation for bearing fruit such as peaches, cherries and plums and even nuts like almonds.

The Washington Monument in Washington, DC, March 19, 2012 surrounded by Cherry blossoms in full bloom due to the early warm weather along the East coast of the US. The blossoms are expected to reach their peak on Tuesday, the first official day of Spring.

Cherry blossoms in full bloom surround the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, March 19, 2012. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the gift from Japan to the United States that started with a planting ceremony between then U.S. First lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador.

An employee walks amid an installation of clay flowers by London-based Chilean artist Fernando Casasempere entitled 'Out of Sync' at Somerset House in central London, March 15, 2012. The installation that acknowledges the end of winter and beginning of spring consists of 10,000 clay blooms individually handcrafted by Casasempere so that each flower is unique.