It’s been an unusually cold winter with temperatures well below freezing on several days. Blissfully, that is changing now with the arrival of spring. We welcome spring when the vernal equinox occurs on March 20, 2026, at 10:46 am EDT.
Do you have a hard time remembering which date is the first day of spring? If so, that’s because the March equinox can take place on either March 19, 20 or 21. During most of the 20th century, spring arrived on March 21 but the event slides earlier and earlier during the 400-year Gregorian calendar cycle. In the 21st century, the March equinox has only occurred twice on March 21- in 2003 and 2007 and the next time it will happen is in 2101!
The March equinox is the astronomical beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. During the equinox, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight. The term vernal is Latin for “spring” and equinox is Latin for “equal night.” It is the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator, which is an imaginary line in the sky above Earth’s equator—from south to north.
There are two equinoxes each calendar year, one in March and one in September, when there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. The autumnal equinox occurs on September 22, 2026, at 8:04 pm.
With so much uncertainty in the world, spring brings not only additional sunlight, but also the promise of new beginnings inspired by the resilience of nature.
“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
Rachel Carson
–Tidelines Editors
Resources: almanac.com and timeanddate.com
(Image credita: adobe.stock.com and timeanddate.com)