Where I live in Chateauguay, Quebec, one way we know that Spring is coming is with the arrival of this Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker on the Chateauguay River. It’s a hovercraft.
Ice blocks on the Chateauguay River used to cause regular Spring flooding so we used to break up the ice with dynamite.
note: The garbage bags on the side held sand to buttress the shoreline. Video taken two years ago.