Our region got a real taste of what’s coming in the next couple of weeks during the past week with temperatures around 70 and long periods of sunny skies.

While spring will not officially arrive until 5:01 a.m. Thursday, there are another couple of reminders that the seasons are ready to change — the celebrations around St. Patrick’s Day and the return of March Madness. According to WalletHub, our region ranks among the top places to celebrate both.

Pittsburgh, according to the Washington, D.C.-based personal financial website, ranks as the 10th best location to honor St. Patrick’s Day and the 95th best place for college basketball fans.

When you break down the factors that went into the selection of the top cities for St. Patrick’s Day, Pittsburgh finished seventh in traditions surrounding the holiday, 13th in safety and accessibility and 113th in total costs. Those numbers should come as no surprise — the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade is considered to be among the biggest and best in the nation.

Also not surprising is that the area was ranked 183rd in terms of weather for the holiday — think back, for example, to the blizzard of 1993 that hit the Tri-State Area and dumped more than 2 feet of snow on St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Other cities in the region did not fare as well as Pittsburgh. Cleveland comes in at 42nd while Columbus stands at 93rd.

Cleveland was ranked eighth in tradition but seems to have been dragged down by safety and accessibility, where it finished 141st; costs, where it finished 167th; and weather, where it was ranked 187th. Expected weather is a big issue in our region — Akron, which came in at 41st overall, finished at 196th in that category.

Columbus, meanwhile, was ranked 65th in tradition (which is tough to believe, especially when you consider it has a suburb named Dublin), 55th in safety, 84th in total costs and 199th in weather.

Boston — again, no surprise — ranks first overall, followed by Reno; Savannah, Ga.; Santa Rosa, Calif.; Worcester, Mass.; Chicago; New York; Henderson, Nev.; and Buffalo.

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The Pittsburgh area in general might be ranked a little lower when it comes to the best cities for college basketball, but other towns not too far from here come in significantly higher.

Morgantown, for instance, stands at 33rd overall, while Athens, the home of Ohio University, is 38th. Another couple of homes of Mid-American Conference schools, Akron and Kent, are 53rd and 59th, respectively. And, not too far from here, Loretto, Pa., the home of St Francis University, stands at 13th overall on the list.

Among the reasons for Athens finishing so high on the list is where it falls when looking at the lowest minimum cost for a season ticket to watch the Bobcats. It’s tied with Montgomery, Ala., for the lowest.

Loretto, meanwhile, was boosted by its standing in the rankings of most-accessible arenas — it’s tied for first with Fayette and Itta Bena, Miss., and Princess Anne, Md.

Morgantown was buoyed by its finish in the most engaged fans category — it’s tied for first with Chapel Hill, N.C.; Bloomington, Ind.; Storrs, Conn.; and East Lansing, Mich., all the homes of schools that have great basketball traditions.

Making up the top 10 overall are Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Storrs; Durham, N.C.; Lexington, Ky.; Lawrence, Kan.; East Lansing; Chapel Hill; Washington, D.C.; and Boston.

Other towns in our region don’t fare so well on the overall list. Columbus is 145th, Cleveland is 232nd and Youngstown is 256th.

Despite an overall lukewarm feeling toward college basketball, it’s a sure bet that we’ll be watching as the men’s tournament opens this week. That will lead, according to WalletHub, to more than $17 billion in corporate losses due to unproductive workers during the tournament. It’s estimated that workers will spend six hours watching games.

A big reason for that is the amount of money that will be wagered on the tournament — more than $2.7 billion legally and more than $4 billion illegally. More than 80 million people participated in tournament pools last year, all hoping for beating the odds of 1 in 9.2 quintrillion and turning in that perfect sheet.

Being able to watch the games at work — and follow your brackets — has become an accepted part of work during the third week of March — 78 percent of employees say celebrating at work boosts morale.

Employers should take note — while 33 percent of employees plan to watch March Madness while at work, 25 percent said they would be willing to take a day off to view tournament games.

And, as with every major event, food and drink will play a major role — WalletHub says beer sales increase by 19 percent and chicken wing orders increase by 23 percent during March Madness.

Numbers to think about while working your way through the last weekend of winter.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)