It certainly raised the spirits of area residents to have a little warmth arrive this week following a prolonged period of frigid, snowy weather.

Temperatures rising into the 60s and plenty of sunshine chased the winter blues away, as well as sent a good deal of the snowpack melting into area lakes and streams.

Along with the welcomed harbingers of spring, though, came that rather disappointing fixture of this time of year – potholes.

The adverse affects of winter’s freezing and then thaws like we’ve been experiencing the past few days are evident on Upper Peninsula roads and this year is shaping up to be an especially bad one.

It seems just about every roadway we travel is pocked fairly well with potholes of varying sizes and depths. Among the worst example of a pothole-infested roadway, however, can be found when driving west on Wright Street from the Presque Isle Avenue intersection.

The usual bumps and potholes of spring are encountered – until you reach Sugarloaf Avenue, which vehicles of all types use as a connector between Marquette County Road 550 and Wright Street.

Once past the intersection of Wright and Sugarloaf, the roadway deteriorates into what basically becomes a slalom course weaving around major areas of missing pavement and holes.

This situation is an extreme example, but it does point to the need for repairs to be made on our roadways.

We’re confident local and regional road maintenance agencies will step up to the task, as well, and get their crews out on the roads with at least some early season pothole patches to ease the frustration of drivers and wear and tear on their vehicles.

We’re equally confident that smoothing of the roads this spring will not be delayed to help sway voters when the ballot proposal to raise the state sales tax to fund road repairs goes to a statewide vote May 5.

For now, though, motorists will have to put up with the annual pothole season, which includes slowing down a little, keeping a closer watch on the road and being glad that spring is just around the corner.