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The earliest spring in 124 years is only two days away, but old man winter isn’t giving up yet! Snow is falling in the west and northeast, there’s a blizzard in Wyoming, and the winter weather will expand significantly across the US on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing more ice and snow.
The experts will tell you 2020 has seen a warmer than usual winter, but looking outside your window tells a different story – it still looks and feels like winter!
Like, some people may want to quit drugs and alcohol and check into the best drug rehab clinic. So they want to quit. But you know who doesn’t want to quit? Old man winter! He wants to keep chilling!
Winter just keeps coming and coming. There’s heavy snow falling and a blizzard in the west, and there is still ice and snow in the east.
The next two days are going to bring even more!
The year 2020 brings the earliest spring equinox that has occurred in 124 years. The last time the spring equinox fell on the 19th was in 1896, according to the old Farmer’s almanac.
For most of the last century, the spring equinox has occurred on March 20 or 21.
However, this year, spring arrives on March 19 in all US time zones. Specifically speaking, spring arrives at 11:50 PM EDT.
For a quick recap, the word equinox is derived from Latin meaning “equal night.” During the equinox, in almost all parts of the world, the length of day and night is nearly equal.
We experience an equinox twice a year.
The March equinox (also called the vernal equinox) in the northern hemisphere marks spring, while in the southern hemisphere it marks the start of autumn.
The September equinox (also called the autumnal equinox) in the northern hemisphere marks the beginning of autumn/fall, while in the southern hemisphere marks the beginning of spring.
In the northern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox occurs around September 22 or 23. In the northern hemisphere, it will occur in 2020 on September 22.
In the northern hemisphere, the vernal equinox signals new beginnings. It’s considered a time of nature’s renewal. It’s a time when spring festivals are celebrated. Religious faiths celebrate Easter and Passover.
The full moon that occurs in March is called “the full worm moon,” a name bestowed upon it by the Native American tribes who observed that it was a time of year when worms (and grubs) started emerging from the earth and their winter dormancy due to the warmer temperatures. Native Americans saw this as a sure sign of spring.
In 2020, we experienced the Full Worm Moon as a Supermoon, a time when the full moon appears brighter and roughly 7% larger than a typical full moon.
A Supermoon occurs when the perigee happens, a point in which the moon’s orbit of Earth is closest to our planet, resulting in a brighter and larger appearance.
