Spring

"The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, 

with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers."

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The spring equinox (vernal equinox) occurs at 6:45 p.m. today, Friday, March 20, 2015.  The spring equinox occurs at the time the sun crosses the equator, moving from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. Since the sun is right overhead of the equator, the equinox is often thought to be the date when there is 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night.

(Meteorological spring starts March 1 every year, makingnit easy to keep and compare statistics about  spring seasons.  Spring to meteorologists is March, April and May.) 

Sunrise and sunset times depend of the topography of an area. Earth is not a perfect sphere.  Sunrise is recorded when the very top of sun pops up over the horizon, and sunset is recorded when the top of the sun drops just below the horizon. So there is about six minutes of extra light at sunrise, and six minutes more sunlight at the end of the day.  Therefore Monday, March 16, 2015 was the day where equal day and night were actually recorded with sunrise a  7:02 AM and sunset at 7:01 PM (officially 11h 58m 46s of daylight).

Sunrise in Appleton, WI  6:55 a.m.

Sunset                              7:05 p.m.

       

Spring unlocks the flowers that paint the laughing soil.

~Reginald Herber