First Day Of Spring 2013: Vernal Equinox Comes On March 20
At 7:02 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 20, the sun will cross directly over the Earth’s equator during a moment known as the vernal equinox when both day and night are about equal — also the official start of the new season. The seasons are reversed for those in the Southern Hemisphere and the event instead signals the beginning of fall.
Spring will last three months until June 21, and summer will carry on until the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22 at 4:44 p.m, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
- A bird sits on a branch of a blooming cherry tree at a park in Tokyo on March 17, 2013. Japan’s weather agency announced the official beginning of cherry blossom season in Tokyo on March 16, equalling the record for the earliest ever start. YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images
- Raindrops hang on to Crocuses at Kew Gardens on March 1, 2013 in Kew, England. Today marks the first day of Spring, though the Met Office have said that temperatures are likely to be below average throughout March. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- VALENCIA, SPAIN – MARCH 18: A woman dressed in traditional costume works at the base of a large model of Saint Mary covered with flowers on March 18, 2013 in Valencia, Spain. The Fallas festival, which runs from March 15 until March 19, celebrates the arrival of spring with fireworks, fiestas and bonfires made from large ninots (puppets). (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
- A young man and woman enjoy the sun and spring-like temperatures on a pier at Lake Starnberg in Niederpoecking near Munich, southern Germany, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. (AP Photo/dpa, Andreas Gebert)
- Images of Earth during the seasons. Winter (top left), spring (top right), summer (bottom left) and fall (bottom right).
- Toronto Blue Jays’ Jim Negrych loses his helmet while diving back to first base after leading off on the play after reaching first on a single in the second inning of a spring training exhibition baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
- ROME, ITALY – MARCH 14: Nuns enjoy a picnic in a park the day after Jorge Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis on March 14, 2013 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- A man takes a rest in a park in Shanghai on March 18, 2013. PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images
- Naga Sadhus or Hindu naked holy men get ready to take out a procession to reach Sangam, confluence of Hindu holy rivers of Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, for a ritual dip, on the third and last royal bath of the Maha Kumbh festival on occasion of Basant Panchami in Allahabad, India, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are attending the Maha Kumbh festival, which is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings that lasts 55 days and falls every 12 years. During the festival pilgrims bathe in the holy Ganges River in a ritual they believe can wash away their sins. (AP Photo/ Rajesh Kumar Singh)
- Snowdrops emerge at Kew Gardens on March 1, 2013 in Kew, England. Today marks the first day of Spring, though the Met Office have said that temperatures are likely to be below average throughout March. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- Boiled crawfish lie on display at Kjean’s Safood in New Orleans, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The wet winter weather in south Louisiana could be making for a bountiful crawfish season. The harvest is just getting started and peaks into the spring. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
- Spring flowers bloom inside the Norman Foster designed Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales on March 5, 2013 near Carmarthen, Wales. As the weather improves, staff at the gardens – which opened in 2000, stretches over 500 acres and contains the largest single span glasshouse in the world – are gearing up for the arrival of the spring season. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)