Sure the calendar has clicked to March 21, indicating that the Spring Vernal Equinox has occurred and spring is officially here, but with snow in the forecast later this week, it looks as though spring will be a little late for us in West Michigan.

Here are five signs I look for in Grand Rapids to indicate that spring is REALLY here.

1. Frosty Boy on Plainfield opens. Nothing says spring is here better than a soft serve cone (dipped in chocolate, of course) from Frosty Boy. They started limited hours this month, so it's kind of indictative that spring is here. But until they hit full hours in May, I'm not convinced.

Frosty Boy/Facebook
Frosty Boy/Facebook
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2. The snow pile in our parking lot is gone. A sunny weekend put a major dent in the giant pile that once ate up four parking spots. But it's not totally gone, and it may grow by the end of this week.

Jojo Girard/Townsquare Media
Jojo Girard/Townsquare Media
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3. The skunk smell hits peak stink. Mating season for the stinky rodents has begun and until it's consistently in my house seven days a week, it's not spring. As of Sunday, I had skunk smell in my house three days last week, so we're getting there.

FYI -- female skunks spray to keep an undesired suitor off their tail, literally. It's the skunk equivalent of human females pepper spraying an unwanted suitor.

Flo The Skunk Arrives At Edinburgh Zoo
Getty Images
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4. The Red Wings and Griffins begin a Cup Hunt. You thought I was going to go Whitecaps baseball as a sure sign of spring, but anyone in Michigan knows a playoff hockey game is ten times more exciting. And the Wings and Griffs seem to lock in automatically every season. The Griffs are in for sure and begin the playoffs the week of April 17, but the Wings are dancing a little too damn close to the bubble.

By the time the Griffins and the hated Ice Hogs get into a heated Twitter War, it'll be 70 degrees out!

Mark Newman via the Grand Rapids Griffins
Mark Newman via the Grand Rapids Griffins
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5. The plastic grocery bags bloom along the Grand River. High late winter run off can only mean one thing: underneath all that water, plastic grocery bags are swirling, hoping to attach themselves to any branch near the water's edge that will have them. Unfortunately, the water is still pretty high, so we may not see the blooming plastic bags for awhile.

Ban On Plastic Grocery Bags Gaining Momentum
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