Much to my dismay, these are not Monarchs! They are in fact Gulf Fritillary or Passion butterflies (Agraulis vanillae). After looking over pictures of Monarchs, I realized that they have a black body with white speckles, while these have an orange body.
Sigh… still waiting for the Monarch’s arrival.
I actually questioned whether these were Monarchs myself, not because of the time of year but because of their appearance. I thought they were Painted Ladies. Look those up. You know, your mother used to collect butterflies. Had the net and the pins and the chloroform. I once knew a lot about them.