Though It Doesn't Feel Like It In Parts Of The Country, It's
Really Spring! Originally published on Wed March 20, 2013 6:58
am Don't tell Chicago, Buffalo or Minneapolis — which will see
high temperatures just in the 20s, today — but at 7:02 a.m. ET.,
the Earth's axis was neither tilted from nor toward the sun,
marking the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. So:
Happy spring equinox! The National Weather Service provides this
explanation for what's happening with the Earth's orbit: "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, it 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. This happens either on March 19,
20 or 21 every year.