The Austin area has many of its own weather barometers.

After finishing a busy work week a few weeks ago, I went for a lengthy Sunday run at the Austin YMCA to celebrate the fact that our annual Progress edition was largely finished, aside from some final proofing.

When I left the Y, I was greeted to an odd mood in the air. I pulled into Kwik Trip to pick up a water and a protein shake and it seemed like everyone was out and about: people lingering outside, workers walking home down the street in short sleeves.

I got home to hear people chattering outside and dogs barking, and then over the weekend I heard about people opening all their windows to air out their house from the winter doldrums.

Was there a full moon or something?

Nope. Temperatures just hit the mid- to upper 30s in February.

While Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter on Feb. 2, the Austin Daily Herald has its own barometer for the changing of the season: our annual Progress edition.

If you don’t remember, Progress is a community yearbook, of sorts, the Herald puts out once a year on the last Friday in February. It includes a variety of features on key Austin happenings and stories from all the area communities: Adams, Rose Creek, Lyle, Dexter, Blooming Prairie, Hayfield and LeRoy.

It’s the biggest special section we publish, topping 100 pages. And by some blessing — yes, this is sarcasm — our March-April Austin Living sends right around the same time. To avoid belaboring this point or sounding like I’m whining, I’ll just say this: It’s a busy, stressful season.

But during the final sprint of Progress, I often notice little telltale signs that winter is approaching: The sun holds more warmth, days are getting longer, highs reach above zero, etc.

Sure, the weather in March and April balances on a roll of the dice and most of us remember that May snowstorm a few years back, but the promise of March brings a hope for warm weather and spring that December and January just can’t muster.

So if you need some good, local reading to help you through the last days of winter, just check out our Progress edition. This year, we have a feature on Riverland President Dr. Adenuga Atewologun’s drive for agriculture at Riverland Community College, on how Austin Growth Ventures could hold big promises for The Hormel Institute, how an Austin teen is making his own movie as he preps for film school, and we feature 30 area residents under age 40 who are making a difference.

Progress publishes on Feb. 24. So grab some good reading material to help the last days of the 2016-17 winter.

If things keep up, winter could be waning. The Austin area has seen springlike weather for several days now. As of my writing this column, The Weather Channel was predicting a six-day stretch of temperatures at 50 degrees or higher with highs above freezing for the remainder of February.

With a little luck, we could get more lamb than lion in March.