Unusual Warm Spring Season in Las Vegas

After an unusually warm winter, the warm weather sticks around for the spring in Las Vegas. The temperature surpassed 90°F or 32°C for the first time in 2015 and reached a record 91°F or 32.8°C on Saturday March 28, 2015; the previous record high for March 28 was 89°F or 31.7°C in 1986.

Today's high temperature 90°F or 32°C also broke the previous record of 88°F or 31.1°C set in 1971. , and it will hover above 90°F or 32°C through tomorrow, the end of March. The normal high temperature for this time of year would be around 74°F or 23°C. The forecast says the high temperature will drop to 82°F or 27.8°C on Wednesday April 1 and to 75°F or 24°C on Thursday April 2, 2015.

Postcard NL-2907738 from the Netherlands arrived on March 28, 2015 showing a spring scene with a beautiful butterfly.

Remembering 9/11 in Las Vegas

Postcard US-1952982 to China shows the New York-New York Hotel and Casino. A memorial sprung up spontaneously after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, with a collection of first responder T-shirts, handwritten notes, and flowers decorating the wall in front of the harbor by the fire boat below the 47-story replica of the Empire State Building. However, Casino expansion pushed out the 9/11 Memorial in 2013.

Today, 13 years after 9/11, a giant U.S. flag was hoisted by two firetrucks at the annual Las Vegas Firefighters 9/11 Tribute and March in downtown Las Vegas. At 7:30 p.m., hundreds of firefighters, police officers, military personnel and community leaders marched along the 3rd Street and paused for a moment of silence with bagpipe performing at the 3rd Street Stage at the Fremont Street Experience. 

Viva Vision Light Show at the Fremont Street Experience also paid tribute to the lives lost during 9/11.

First Day of Spring

Spring starts with the vernal equinox on March 20 at 9:57 P.M. PDT, 2014. Equinox is the day when daytime and night are of approximately equal duration, which occurs twice a year.  the March equinox which, in the astronomical system of seasons, is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere (vernal equinox) and the first day of autumn (autumnal equinox) in the Southern Hemisphere.

Although March equinox is precisely defined as when the center of the sun is, moving northward, directly over the Equator, meteorological and ecological spring, defined by other events or indicators such as the values of average monthly temperatures or the first appearance of flowers, changes from year to year and place to place. According to the National Geographic, spring is It arriving earlier as snow melting and flowers blooming sooner than usual in the U.S.

Postcard TW-1190199 shows cherry blossom in Taiwan. There are four major areas noted for cherry blossom activities.

• At Wulai, the high season is in February. The local festival features Atayal culture, one of the aboriginal tribes inhabiting in the mountainous areas of northern and central Taiwan. 
• For Alishan, the one-month long flower season lasts from March 15 to April 15. However, at the lower elevations, it sometimes starts as early as in late January. 
• Sun Moon Lake Cherry Blossom is said to have the most romantic spot for enjoying the seasonal colors with many activities scheduled throughout the season.
• Mt. Yangming National Park, one of the most popular national parks in Taiwan, offers cherry blossom against its volcanic mountain formations. It has gained increasing popularity due to its close proximity to Taipei City.

Beers Over Equality

St. Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday that celebrates the death date of the most commonly-recognized patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick on March 17. While the festivals are underway this Sunday, Guinness became the third beer company to withdraw sponsorship of a major St. Patrick's Day parade in the U.S. because the organizers banned LGBT groups from openly participating in the parades.

Earlier, according to Boston.com, Boston Beer Company, which manufactures Sam Adams, announced on March 14 to pull out today's parade in Boston after South End restaurant Club Cafe said that it would no longer serve Sam Adams due to the brewer's sponsorship with the parade. Boston's Irish-American Mayor Martin Walsh skipped his city's St. Patrick's Day parade after failing to broke a deal with organizers to allow a group of gay and lesbian activists to march openly.

In New York City, Heineken ended its relationship with the 250-year old parade for the same reason; and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will not be marching in the parade on Monday, March 17 to protest the exclusionary policies, becoming the first mayor in decades to break the tradition.

"Moonrise" Over Privately-Owned Public Open Space

Postcard US-2615877 to Greece shows Moonrise March, one of three mottled aluminum heads entitled "Moonrise Sculptures: March, October, and December" by Swiss sculptor Ugo Rondinone, located at 555 Mission Street in San Francisco, California. The three sculptures are spaced apart by benches against a wall with suspended living green plants.

On the property, it has a 34-story high-rise office tower with green glass developed by Tishman Speyer in 2008. The plaza in front of the building is one of the privately-owned public open spaces (POPOS) under the requirement of the 1985 Downtown Plan, which also includes the “1% Art Program” that dedicates 1% of the total construction cost to public art for large projects with 25,000 square feet or more in downtown. Visit website of the City's Planning Department to learn more about POPOS and Public Art.

The photo on the postcard was taken on June 25, 2014.

Austin, Texas

Postcard US-2628163 to Japan shows a fun map of Austin, the capital of Texas, designed by FunGraphix.  It is the 11th-largest city in the U.S. and the fourth-largest city in the state of Texas, and home to the University of Texas at Austin.

Austin hosts South by Southwest (SXSW), a cluster of festivals of film, interactive media, and music, and technical conferences every year in spring. It will run from March 7 to March 16 in 2014.