Despite there being no Punxsutawney Phil or any other groundhog to tell you if he can see his shadow, unless your neighborhood is set to have winter constantly, eventually, the snow angels will fade and the snowmen on the front lawn will melt, the skies will clear and you can tell that Spring is in the air.

Alright, I admit that you could have the transition to spring from another season but the above sounded good and I couldn't resist using this screenshot.

Weatherwise, the skies will cloud over from time to time and thunderstorms are not uncommon. Lightning may strike from time to time and if one of your sims is unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they can get struck. I have not been that fortunate to see a sim struck by lightning, although one of my willow trees burst into flames when it was struck by lightning.

Fitting a fire alarm on the outside of the house might not be too bad an idea. Using the "moveobjects on" cheat might be necessary. However, it will guarantee immediate attention. My sims telephoned the Fire Department when this tree burst into flames. However, by the time they made the call and the FD turned up, the storm had put the fire out and the family were fined §500 for wasting the firefighter's time.

Once again, the weather effects are very good both visually and aurally. Just make sure your speakers are turned up during a thunderstorm. You'll know what I mean.

Rain showers and especially storms leave puddles. Splashing in them is a free way of getting a sim's fun up, but ultimately these puddles look a bit unsightly and may need to me mopped up. So they are not confused with puddles that come from a more ground-based form which cannot be played in, rain puddles are a different colour.

Spring is a good season to do some planting. Firstly, prepare the ground with compost or fertiliser. It is a fact that compost is more beneficial to your plots than fertiliser, plus compost is free. It does pay for your sims to compost their rubbish and not to recycle it. Here we see Betty Goldstein, who is one of the "lovely wobbly old ladies" from the Viejo house in Riverblossom Hills, composting the garden in preparation for planting. Betty is currently unskilled in gardening but composting will give her some experience towards getting her bronze badge.

Springtime is the optimum season for planting Peppers, Strawberries and Eggplants. Now we see Catherine Viejo planting strawberries in the plots that Betty prepared earlier. Catherine has a Silver Badge in gardening and has the ability to plant quite a few different types of vegetables. Had it been left to unskilled Betty to do the planting, she would have only been able to plant tomatoes.

The fruit trees usually come out of hibernation in Spring and cease being dormant. From my experience, they usually come out as being "sickly". Here we see Catherine spraying their "ambrosial apple tree". Before harvesting, the only other option that seems to be available for trees is "tend" which involves trimming back various branches.

Winter was a good time to spend with the family. In the spirit of Springtime being mating season in the animal world, Spring in the Sims is a good time to work on your romantic relationships. I am not saying that they don't function during the rest of the year but romantic relationships do get a 50% bonus to successful interactions.

I did notice some autonomous flirting from a romance sim to another who were not previously involved romantically. I am not sure whether this is a new feature or not.

Springtime is one of the brighter seasons, especially compared to the bleak whiteness of winter. When there is a storm or heavy shower, I noticed again the same problems I experienced when there was a heavy snowfall in that my computer slows down. Again, it might just be me.

Logically, you would assume the next section would be about summer. That is where things are changing. We are staying in Riverblossom Hills but returning to Jonah and Simone Midwinter as there have been some significant developments and changes.