The snow has cleared, the sun is occasionally peeping through the clouds and England have just returned from a disappointing tour.
Ben Foakes - Essex
Ben Foakes, a 20-year-old from Clacton, was fast-tracked into the England Lions squad for their winter tour - despite having been the third-choice wicketkeeper-batsman at Chelmsford last season.
Why the Lions call? Because he is one of the most exciting batsmen in England, and is likely to play much more cricket this year now that last season's second choice - Adam Wheater - has departed for Hampshire.
Essex gave him his Championship debut against Leicestershire last season and he responded by scoring 93. He has played for England from U16 level and was the top-scorer for the U19s in their World Cup campaign in Australia.
He had the coaches drooling as he walloped 90 off 94 balls for the England Performance Programme in their three-day match against DY Patil Academy XI in Mumbai in November.
A powerful and fast-scoring batsman, he has also been working hard on his glovework this winter, and the Lions management are known to have been hugely impressed by his commitment and attitude.
James Foster captains Essex this season so Foakes will not be behind the stumps much but he could well force his way into the Essex top-order as a batsman alone, particularly in limited-overs cricket.
He is certainly the long-term successor to Foster at Essex and many believe he will leapfrog the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Craig Kieswetter and be an England Test and one-day player in years to come too.
Sam Billings - Kent
What were you doing on Sunday, August 12 last year? You probably either can't remember, or you can say you were at Canterbury and saw Sam Billings smash 143 against Derbyshire in a CB40 match.
That was the biggest innings by a Kent player in limited-overs cricket - not just last season, ever - and that from a player yet to play in the Championship.
In shortened formats though he is already a key player at the age of just 21, finishing last season as top scorer for Kent in the CB40 and Friends Life t20 campaigns.
He has all the shots, and plays with the kind of fearlessness that brings to mind Ali Brown, the ferocious former Surrey batsman.
Billings and Daniel Bell-Drummond - who we tipped up last year - are two major young talents at Canterbury, and with Kent keen to give youth its head this season, it could be an exciting year for both.
Billings, who has spent the winter honing his skills at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Australia, is a wicketkeeper too but finds himself in a similar position to Ben Foakes at Essex.
In Billings' case, for James Foster, read Geraint Jones - he will have the gloves again this season. But when the former England man calls it a day, Kent have a potentially stellar replacement waiting in the wings.
Moin Ashraf - Yorkshire
Moin Ashraf was one of the key players in Yorkshire's surprise run to the Friends Life t20 finals, taking 15 wickets.
The 21-year-old seems to be able to deliver yorkers on demand at slippery pace, and his performances in t20 cricket earned him a regular spot in the Championship side which went on to win promotion to Division One.
The Bradford-born starlet has come through the ranks at Yorkshire, playing for all the age-group teams before signing professional terms. He is also the subject of a parody Twitter account and - unlike Kevin Pietersen - he enjoys the notoriety it brings.
The season 2013 will be a big one for him - he faces stiff competition from Ryan Sidebottom, last year's unsung hero Steve Patterson, Tim Bresnan and new signings Jack Brooks and Liam Plunkett to be part of the pace attack.
But if he continues his upward curve, Ashraf can become a real star in all forms of the game.
Ross Whiteley - Derbyshire
Last season Ross Whiteley made the breakthrough for Derbyshire but there is much more to come from this big-hitting all-rounder.
A graduate of the Derbyshire Academy, he did little in his first couple of seasons in the first-team squad. But he was a pivotal player in the county's surprise promotion-winning campaign in 2012, scoring 498 runs and taking 20 wickets with his left-arm medium-pace.
Whiteley is making a nice habit of scoring runs when his team really needs them, most recently in the title-winning match against Hampshire when he scored 57 and 38 and took 4-43.
He can hit a long ball too, and his fireworks brought international recognition when he was selected to play for England in the Hong Kong Sixes.
He has spent the summer playing Grade cricket in Australia and was a major success, being named in the Team of the Year.
Something of a late developer, the Yorkshire-born Whiteley will be a key man in what is likely to be a tough first Division One campaign for Derbyshire this season - expect him to deliver.
