Does spring start a day early in 2020?
I thought the vernal equinox was always March 20, but my calendar says this year it’s March 19. I’ll take the extra day, but how could something like that change?
In the United States, the vernal equinox, which signifies the start of astronomical spring in the northern hemisphere, actually happens on March 19, 20, or 21 each year. We haven’t had a March 19 equinox since 1896, and we won’t have a March 21 equinox until 2101.
I say it marks the beginning of astronomical spring because meteorological spring (based on weather patterns) starts March 1.
Astronomical spring is a little harder to explain. The Earth’s axis is always tilted at about 23 degrees, meaning that depending on where it is in its orbit, one hemisphere or the other is closer to the sun. The equinoxes (the vernal equinox in March and the autumnal equinox in September) mark the points in the orbit where neither hemisphere is tilted toward nor away from the sun, meaning day and night are nearly equal.
The first day of spring will occur on Thursday, March 19, 2020, at 11:50 p.m. EDT for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, which is marked by the arrival of the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. If this seems early to you, you're right! In fact, this is the earliest the Vernal (Spring) Equinox has occurred in 124 years
No. Since 2020 is a LEAP year, the calendar date has been pushed back by a day. If it was not a leap year, the date would have been March 20th, in the Western Hemisphere
Yes it did, I saw two robins a day early and they were arguing about the same thing. It's a leap year so you know the birds don't have a calendar.