THE weather may have been wretched for the past week or so - but there is some hope around the corner.

Blue skies and sun are forecast to replace the wind, rain - and even snow - of late, with at least a week of dry weather.

Monday March 20 saw the spring equinox mark the changing seasons in the UK. It is the date on which both day and night are the same length.

Flowers have been blossoming around the South Lakes area, with crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils among the blooms springing up.

The sun is expected to be shining again throughout this afternoon, with highs of 11C to go with it.

It is expected to be a similar story for the rest of the week and into the weekend, with sun and highs of 13C anticipated.

It does, however, fall short of the 17C record in recent years for March.

While there has been little snowfall in Barrow, outlying areas of Ulverston and rural parts of south Cumbria saw plenty of the white stuff on Wednesday morning.

As the snow disappears again, flood fears from melting snow have been allayed by the Met Office.

Cumbria has been given a very low likelihood of flooding for the next five days.