Spring Equinox: Overview of Monday as the End of Winter

Even though it’s still cold outside, Monday’s  spring equinox serves as a reminder that warmer days are just around the corner. The end of winter and the start of spring are marked up here in the North by This is also known as the spring equinox, which occur on March 20 at 5:24 p.m. Eastern time.

An overview of Monday’s spring equinox, the end of winter

There are equinoxes twice a year in March as well as in September. The exact moment the sun appears straight over the equator of the Earth is marked by them, which fall in the middle of the winter and summer solstices.

When does the vernal equinox occur?

Direct sunlight Originating in the warmth of the sun enters region known as the Northern Hemisphere during the March equinox. In North America, Europe, and Asia, it is the first start of astronomical season of rebirth; during Southern Hemisphere, summer is turning into fall.

We don’t orbit the sun exactly vertically, which is why we have equinoxes & seasons. The Northern and Southern hemispheres receive varying quantities of sunshine throughout the year due to Earth’s tilt on its axis, which is around 23.5 degrees. Nonetheless, on the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun’s energy is distributed equally between the two hemispheres. Day and night are therefore virtually equal everywhere on Earth.

 Equivalent during both time of day and night?

Although though meaning of “equinox” is the Latin phrase “aequus” (meaning “equal”) and “nox” (meaning “night”), Periods of the Day and Night do not last precise 12 hours.

For instance, on a Monday, Washington, D.C. experiences 12 hours and 8 minutes of daylight, with dawn at 7:11 a.m. and sunset at 7:19 p.m. For the majority of the Lower 48 States, the “equilux,” or day when the sunrise and the sunset come closest to being 12 hours apart, takes place on March 16 or 17.

There are two explanations for why the equinox has a longer day than usual. One is how we determine what we mean when we say “sunrise” and “sunset” to indicate how long a day is. The sun does not appear as a distinct point in the sky like a midnight star, but rather as a disc. Sunset doesn’t happen until the sun’s top edge completely descends below the horizon, while sunrise happens the instant the sun’s upper edge first emerges on the horizon.

Daylight hours quickly rise.

Since mid-December, the days have been getting longer, but the spring equinox marks the time when the length of the days increases the quickest. Your latitude, or distance from the equator, determines how quickly things will shift. Whereas northern cities like Boston, Chicago, and Seattle gain closer to three minutes of daylight each day, D.C. only gains 2 minutes and 33 seconds. Each day that passes in Anchorage, the sun rises for at least 512 minutes longer.

Sunrise and sunset positions shift.

No matter where you live, the sun only rises and sets in the same direction on the spring and fall equinoxes. As the sun travels a longer and higher course through the sky from now until the summer solstice, dawn and sunset will continue to move closer to the northern horizon. The sun moves southward after the summer solstice, which causes the days to grow shorter once more.

Weather forecast for spring

Temperatures will unavoidably rise as we go closer to summer as the days continue to grow longer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just published its spring 2023 outlook, and it predicts above-average temperatures across the eastern and south-central parts of the country. Temperatures in spring might come near to the long-term average for the northern Plains, West Coast, and Rockies.

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