The Healing Connection Weblog

Spring - Making It Official

We’ve had some very spring like weather (Wasn’t Tuesday, March 13th gorgeous?), followed by some colder days. That’s March in Nebraska. The volatility of March can be hard on us but it is also a time of hope (see Time of Hope / Time of Difficulty). This brings me to the topic of the Official Start of Spring. This year that event occurs on March 20th at 7:07 CDT.
This point in time has less to do with actual weather conditions than it does astronomical events. At this time the center of the Sun is directly over the Earth’s equator. This event is called the Vernal Equinox. Equinox comes from Latin roots meaning “equal” and “night”. Day and night are of equal length. Actually that’s not quite true. Because the Sun extends well beyond it’s center we can still see part of the Sun after it’s center has gone below the horizon. There is a little more sunlight than darkness. But close enough.
From this point on daylight, for those in the Northern Hemisphere, will increase until it reaches it’s maximum during the Summer Solstice, June 21st, when the Sun reaches it’s greatest distance from the equator. Then daylight starts to decrease until we reach the Autumnal Equinox where day and night are equal again.
How can summer, and the hottest months of the year, occur after the days start getting shorter? The reason is the oceans which play a big role in our weather. It takes them awhile to catch up to the changes in light level.
Why do we even have seasons? The Earth tilts. During summer in the Northern Hemisphere we are tilted closer to the sun than the Southern Hemisphere which is experiencing winter. During our winter the opposite is true and we trade places, weather wise.

Whatever the reason for the seasons it sure beats having the same thing all year long.
Get out and enjoy the spring.