When Does Spring Start/End: Equinox, Best Quotes and Facts

Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of the term varies according to local climate, cultures and customs. When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa. At the spring (or vernal) equinox, days and nights are approximately twelve hours long, with daytime length increasing and nighttime length decreasing as the season progresses.

Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth. Subtropical and tropical areas have climates better described in terms of other seasons, e.g. dry or wet, monsoonal or cyclonic. Cultures may have local names for seasons which have little equivalence to the terms originating in Europe.

Astronomical spring

Photo: Getty Images

Astronomical seasons refer to the position of Earth's orbit in relation to the Sun, considering equinoxes and solstices. This is due to the 23.5 degrees of tilt of the Earth's rotational axis concerning its orbit around the Sun. Since the seasons vary in length, the start date of a new season can fall on different days each year.

When does spring start/end incomming years?

Meteorological spring

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Meteorological seasons are instead based on the annual temperature cycle and measure the meteorological state, as well as coinciding with the calendar to determine a clear transition between the seasons.

The meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics. By the meteorological calendar, spring will always start on 1 March; ending on 31 May.

The seasons are defined as spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February).

WHAT IS THE SPRING EQUINOX?

In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox (aka spring equinox or vernal equinox) occurs when the Sun crosses the equator line, heading north. This event marks the start of spring in the northern half of the globe. After this date, the Northern Hemisphere begins to be tilted more toward the Sun, resulting in increasing daylight hours and warming temperatures. (In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite: the March equinox marks the start of autumn, as the Southern Hemisphere begins to be tilted away from the Sun.)

******READ MORE: Celebrations of Spring Equinox Around the World

WHEN IS THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING?

In 2021, the March equinox happens on Saturday, March 20, at 5:37 A.M. EDT. In the Northern Hemisphere, this date marks the start of the spring season.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the March equinox marks the start of autumn, while the September equinox marks the start of spring.

WHAT DOES SPRING “EQUINOX” MEAN, EXACTLY?

The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night”—aequus (equal) and nox (night).

On the equinox, the length of day and night is nearly equal in all parts of the world.

With the equinox, enjoy an increasing amount of sunlight hours, with earlier dawns and later sunsets!

WHAT HAPPENS ON THE MARCH EQUINOX?

On the March equinox, the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. It’s called the “celestial” equator because it’s an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator.

If you were standing on the equator, the Sun would pass directly overhead on its way north.

Equinoxes are the only two times each year that the Sun rises due east and sets due west for all of us on Earth!

While the Sun passes overhead, the tilt of the Earth is zero relative to the Sun, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun. (Note, however, that the Earth never orbits upright, but is always tilted on its axis by about 23.5 degrees.)

After the spring equinox, the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the Sun. Although in most locations (the North Pole and Equator being exceptions) the amount of daylight had been increasing each day after the winter solstice, after the spring equinox, many places will experience more daylight than darkness in each 24-hour day. The amount of daylight each day will continue to increase until the summer solstice in June, during which the longest period of daylight occurs.

Facts about Spring

Spring begins on the Vernal Equinox.

The word Vernal means Spring in Latin while Equinox is the Latin word for equal days. On the first day of Spring the hours of daylight and night are almost equal with daylight being slightly longer. In 2015, the Vernal Equinox happens on the 20th of March.

The Great Sphinx was an equinoctial marker.

A theory in alternative Egyptlogy claims that the great Sphinx of Egupt gazes east, targeting the exact position of the Vernal Equinox sunrise.

In Spring days are getting longer.

During Spring the Earth’s axis is tilted toward the sun wich causes the length of daylight to increase at the hemisphere that aproaches the warm planet.

In Spring wheather is getting warmer.

The daylight hours increase results in a temperature increase which results in warmer weather.

In Spring flowers grow faster and bloom.

Plants respond to temperature and light. Increased temperatures as well as day length have a major influence on the growth and flowering of many plant species.

In Spring animals have babies.

For most middle latitude animals Spring is the time when their newborns have the best chance of survival due to mild wheather and food abundance.

In Spring baby birds learn to sing.

Songbirds learn to sing by hearing their species’ song when they are young and during the first stage of learning they babble more or less like human infants do.

In the southern hemisphere Spring is in Autumn.

In Temperate zone locations such as Australia and New Zealand, spring begins on 1 September and ends 30 November.

When Does Winter Start/End: Solstice, Best Quotes and Facts Winter - the last and coldest season of the year, where everything sinks into a deep sleep under layers of snow, waiting for spring to ...

When Does Autumn Start/End: Equinox, Top Quotes and Best Season Autumn, also known as fall in North American English, is one of the four temperate seasons. It is also one of the most beautiful and ...

When Does Summer Start/End: Solstices, Equinoxes, Best Quotes and Facts About Summer is just one step away, and we cant wait for our holidays to come. When does summer start/end this year and next years? Keep ...

Best Quotes for Spring

Photo: Pinterest

"I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze."

– William Wordsworth

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade."

– Charles Dickens

"Where flowers bloom so does hope."

– Lady Bird Johnson

"The earth laughs in flowers."

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant."

– Anne Bradstreet

"It is spring again. The Earth is like a child that knows poems."

– Rainer Maria Rilke

"It is spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want–oh, you don't know quite what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

–Mark Twain

"Spring is the time of plans and projects."

–Leo Tolstoy

"Come with me into the woods. Where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible."

–Mary Oliver

"You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming."

–Pablo Neruda

"That is one good thing about this world–there are always sure to be more springs."

–L.M. Montgomery

"If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring."

– Victor Hugo

Photo: Pinterest

"When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people, and if you keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself."

–Ernest Hemingway

"Always it's spring and everyone's in love and flowers pick themselves."

–e.e. cummings

"Spring drew on...and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that hope traversed them at night and left each morning brighter traces of her steps."

–Charlotte Brontë

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."

–Audrey Hepburn

"I had always planned to make a large painting of the early spring, when the first leaves are at the bottom of the trees, and they seem to float in space in a wonderful way. But the arrival of spring can't be done in one picture."

– David Hockney

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

– Margaret Atwood

"Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat."

– Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...

"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”

― Frances Hodgson Burnett

Celebrations of Spring Equinox Around the World March 20th marks the first day of spring, or the spring equinox. “Equinox” means “equal night” in Latin. Traditions vary widely from one country ...

What is the Vernal Equinox: Start Spring, Meaning, Celebration, Horoscope What is the Vernal Equinox: Start Spring, Meaning, Celebration, Horoscope - What the equinox means for YOUR star sign and everything to Know.

Basant Panchami 2021: History, Significance, Celebrations, Quotes, and Messages Basant Panchami is a significant festival in India which marks springtime harvest when flowers are in full bloom and every home can boast of color ...

Top 7 make-up trends for spring 2021 The 7 spring makeup trends that is going to explore in spring 2021 have already been listed below for you by Knowinsider. Are you ready ...