Traditionally, we’ve celebrated the beginning of spring on March 21, but astronomers and calendar manufacturers alike now say that the spring season starts one day earlier, March 20, in all time zones in North America.
How could the first day of spring change from year to year?
There are a few reasons why seasonal dates can vary from year to year. The first is that a year is not an even number of days and neither are the seasons.
There are a few reasons why seasonal dates can vary from year to year. The first is that a year is not an even number of days and neither are the seasons.
Another reason is that the earth’s elliptical orbit is changing its orientation (skew), which causes the earth’s axis to constantly point in a different direction, called precession. Since the seasons are defined as beginning at strict 90-degree intervals, these positional changes affect the time the earth reaches each 90-degree location in its orbit around the sun.
At least I found something that validates my memory. So today I celebrate the first day of Spring because I am really ready for a change, even though it's not going to be warm for a while yet; we could still see some snow events between now and Easter (which is rather late this year, April 16) but mostly we will (hopefully) see an abundance of rain.
My mother would have been 96 in April, and I seem to recall that Easter was her favorite holiday, so I will continue to blossom and grow, and think of her.
Happy Spring!
