Spring Equinox 2017 in Northern Hemisphere was at 6:28 AM

March 19, 2017

By Steve Raleigh

Spring -- also known as the vernal equinox -- is here! (click here)

Spring officially arrived at 6:28 Monday morning. Of course, that's when the sun (direct solar rays) was directly over the equator and the vernal equinox arrived.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the word equinox is derived from two Latin words: aequus (equal) and nox (night)....

Just to add some perspective to Earth's rotation around Sol, our sun's name, the orbit is not always equal distance.

Below the folks in New Jersey have brought more facts to the surface of those interested.

Timing is everything (click here)

Spring will officially arrive on Monday March 20 at 10:29 a.m. UTC. That’s Coordinated Universal Time, the clock that labs around the world like the U.S. Naval  Observatory use. It replaced Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT), which is no longer used by scientists.

Translated into eastern time, that means we’ll welcome spring in New Jersey at 6:29 a.m. that day....

Interesting.

It’s a compound word whose origins go all the way back to 1350 the medieval Latin term aequinoctium meaning the time of equal (aequi or equi) days and nights (noct or nox).

The Cherry Blossoms in DC had to have their peak season revised to later because of the harsh cold.

UPDATE: (click here) The National Park Service posted on March 17 that about half of the cherry blossoms survived the cold and that they expect those to bloom late next week....

...In the meantime, we’re seeing a stretch of very cold weather with temperatures that are damaging the blossoms that are in the later stages of their development. It is not yet clear how much damage they will have sustained when all is said and done.

On March 15, the NPS put out a press release that said, in part: “With temperatures moderating after the current cold snap, peak bloom of the Yoshino variety of cherry trees is still expected to occur within the projected March 19-22 window. However, the number of cherry trees that reach the blossom stage may be reduced as a result of the recent cold temperatures.”

2017 Cherry Blossom Watch (click here)