Spring Equinox nigh ... so why's it still snowing?

March 17, 2012

By Jen Hill More then 4,500 years ago, tribes, hamlets, villages and cities across the northern hemisphere were preparing celebrations in recognition of the Vernal Equinox. For some, it marked the beginning of a new year, the impending planting season or the return of their Gods' favor. Thoughout history the Spring Equinox has been known by many names. No Ruz – Iranian – meaning the arrival of spring. Alban Eilir – Welsh/Brythonic/Druidic – meaning Vernal Equinox. Ostara (Eostre) – Anglo-Saxon and Wiccan – the Goddess of Spring, light fertility; the bringing of rebirth and renewal. During the Equinox festivals, feasts, sacrifices and celebrations were held. It's the Spring Equinox ... know whut I mean, Vernal? In 45 B.C. Julius Caesar placed the Vernal Equinox on March 25. It was later adjusted to March 21, when Pope Gregory XIII created the Gregorian calendar, the calendar we use today. The Vernal Equinox is important in determining the date for Easter. In 325 A.D., the First Council of Nicaea was held and the basic rules for Easter were set. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar and decreed the date Resurrection Day (Easter) would fall was the first Sunday after the full moon following the Northern Hemispheres Vernal Equinox. This year the first day of spring is on March 20, according to my calendar. The Vernal Equinox means the sun crosses the equator toward the relevant hemisphere and can fall anywhere from the 19th to the 22nd. LaVernal & Shirley There are a couple reasons this happens. First of all, the Earth doesn't rotate around the sun in exactly 365 days nor perfectly straight on its axis. A calendar year is 365 days, or 366 days during a leap year. However a solar year is how long the Earth takes to make on complete revolution around the sun measured from one Vernal Equinox to the next; or 365.2425 days. Julius Caesar originally introduced the idea of a Leap Year and it was later refined by Pope Gregory XIII. Time zones also have an affect on the date of the Equinox. This year the exact time of the Equinox is 5:14 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated), March 20. So in Bonners Ferry the exact time of the Equinox will be 10:14 p.m. Monday, March 19. However if you lived in New York the exact time would be 1:14 a.m. March 20. On Monday we still celebrate the Spring Equinox. The first Earth Day was celebrated on March 21, 1970, and later changed to be globally recognized on April 22. Locally, the Boundary County Farm Bureau recognizes the first baby born in the area after the first day of spring as Boundary County's Ag Baby of the Year. So, with spring officially here March 20, we can expect to see newborn animals and to hear the chirp of hatched baby birds. It's also the time of year for fresh blooms, warmer weather and more daylight! If only it would stop snowing. On the equinox, night and day are nearly exactly the same length – 12 hours – all over the world. This is the reason it's called an "equinox," derived from Latin, meaning "equal night."  However, even if this is widely accepted, the equinox isn't entirely true. In reality equinoxes don't have exactly 12 hours of daylight. The March equinox occurs the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north. "Vernal" comes from the Latin "vernalis," meaning "of the spring. "This happens either on March 19, 20 or 21 every year. On any other day of the year, the Earth's axis tilts a little away from or towards the Sun. But on the two equinoxes, the Earth's axis doesn't tilt neither away from nor towards the Sun, as the illustration shows.