SANFORD — Much of York County went from wishy washy to wicked warm Monday and weather forecasters say today will be much the same.

It may have felt like spring was never going to arrive — particularly because a foot of snow fell just 10 days ago — but voila, here it is.

“There is no major cold air on the horizon,” said meteorologist Andy Pohl of the National Weather Service Office in Gray on Monday. “There’s a fairly good warming trend here.”

Sure is. Think flip flops and T-shirts, soft serve ice cream, an afternoon run or a ride on the bike. Think venturing out into the garden to find a crocus or clean up the brush and the leaves — and the acorns, like Jeanette St. Onge of Arundel, who was out with her rake at noon on Monday.

Her wheelbarrow was full of last year’s leaves, sticks and brush, and acorns, lots of acorns, “from our mighty oak,” she said, pointing to the tree at the edge of the property.

In Sanford, where temperatures topped out at 80 degrees Monday afternoon, folks were out enjoying the warmth.

At Number One Pond, people were sitting on park benches, gazing at the open water and keeping an eye out for waterfowl. Others were walking the pond-side trail. Little Breiana Lewis, 4, was practicing her casting skills with a pink, blue and purple fishing rod. There was no hook on the rod, her dad pointed out, it was just a good day to work on that casting action for some future fishing adventure.

Closer to the coast, the temperatures were a little cooler, but still the perfect day to get out into the garden.

While the warm spell over the past two days might tempt the gardener to plant cold weather crops —peas, kale, radish and pansies — wait a bit, so the soil has a chance to warm up, advised Frank Wertheim of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in York County. Clean up the garden — and get a soil test kit by calling the extension agency at 324-2814 — they’ll pop one in the mail. The results will tell the gardener what the soil needs to produce the prettiest flowers and most bountiful vegetables.

In the meantime, enjoy a walk, sit on the deck, open the windows, and later, after the sun goes down,  enjoy tonight’s full Pink Moon — which according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, isn’t really pink, but “heralds the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox—one of the first spring flowers.”

It’s also a good time to have a traditional summertime treat, like the folks who stopped at Dairy Queen in Sanford Monday afternoon.

“Great day for an ice cream,” one woman said as she tasted her cone of chocolate soft serve in the spring sunshine.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].