Everything you need to know about the vernal equinox | The Independent

Whether you line your favorite park with yellow daffodils or turn down the thermostat on your heating, it’s clear that the vernal equinox – the signal of the beginning of spring – has firmly arrived.

However, with fluctuating and unpredictable temperatures, it can be difficult to determine when winter ends and spring officially begins.

A cold snap in mid-March this year has left many feeling colder than they would expect at this time of year, with parts of the UK recording the coldest March temperatures since 2010.

Snow blanketed large parts of the country, causing widespread travel disruption.

But as the spring equinox approaches, many Britons are feeling more than ready to welcome the new season and bid farewell to winter for the time being.

Here’s everything you need to know about them Spring Equinox:

when is spring

Depending on what definition of spring you use, there are two different dates that mark the first day of the season.

According to the Met Office, Wednesday March 1 was the first day of the Meteorological spring this year.

However, according to the astronomical definition of the seasons, the first day is marked on Monday, March 20th.

What is meteorological spring?

Meteorological seasons are based on dividing the seasons into four fixed periods, each consisting of three months.

These seasons coincide with the Gregorian calendar, which is the most widely used civil calendar in the world and is based on a common 365-day year divided into 12 months of irregular length.

Meteorological spring ends this year on Wednesday 31st May and precedes summer which starts on Thursday 1st June.

What is the astronomical source?

The astronomical calendar determines the seasons based on the 23.5-degree tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation with respect to its orbit around the Sun.

Astronomical spring depends on the date of the vernal equinox, also known as the vernal equinox and March equinox, which varies from year to year.

The vernal equinox consists of four days – two equinoxes and two solstices – during the year that mark the beginning of a new season. For the northern hemisphere, the vernal equinox is the moment when winter ends and spring begins.

This year, the vernal equinox falls in the early morning of Monday, March 20th.

Astronomical spring then lasts until the summer solstice, which falls on Wednesday 21 June this year.

How do equinoxes and solstices work?

The word “equinox” derives its name from the Latin terms “eqi” meaning “equal” and “nox” meaning “night”.

According to the astronomical calendar, there are two equinoxes each year in March and September, when day and night each last about 12 hours anywhere on earth.

This occurs when the celestial equator – an imaginary projection of the Earth’s equator onto the sky – is the part of the earth closest to the sun.

The world solstice, on the other hand, comes from the Latin word “solstitium”, which means “sun stands still”.

The summer and winter solstices occur when the sun is furthest from the celestial equator.