Looking forward to longer days and lighter nights as the Spring Equinox happens today

Amazing photo by David Walker

The spring equinox marks nature's first day of spring.

Since the shortest day of the year in mid December, the days have been gradually getting longer and nights slightly shorter and come the middle of this week, day and night become equal in length. The direct translation of equinox from Latin is 'equal night'.

The sun crosses the equator and positions itself above this point between both hemispheres and the result is equal amounts of daylight in both hemispheres.

From this point on, days become incrementally longer than nights as we roll towards the longest day of the year in June (the summer solstice).

When does it start?

This year, the equinox takes place this Wednesday, March 20.

The autumn equinox occurs in October, when the reverse situation begins and days become shorter and nights longer.

In between both equinox dates, we have a summer and winter solstice, the longest and shortest days of the year.

What does it mean weather-wise?

The length of day and night has no direct impact on the weather but after the spring equinox takes place, we have increased daylight hours.

The clocks 'spring' forward an hour on the last Sunday of March and we lose an hour of sleep. Initially we have a knock on effect of darker mornings and lighter evenings before everything adjusts and days begin to get more stretched out.

What is the solstice?

The solstice occurs twice a year - in the Northern Hemisphere the summer solstice is around June 21 - the longest day of the year, and the winter solstice is around December 21, the shortest day of the year.

During the summer solstice the areas north of the Arctic circle have 24 hours of sunlight and the Antarctic has full darkness, which is flipped during the winter solstice.

What is the difference between meteorological and astronomical seasons?

Meteorological seasons are broken down into four groups of three months by weather organisations - winter is December, January, February, while spring is March, April, May and so on. It makes weather statistics easier when it comes to context and comparison.

Astronomical seasons are defined by natural changes in the earth and sun positioning, its purely seasonal pattern defined by nature.

Amazing photo by David Walker