First Day Of Spring!

Spring Equinox 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere will be at 16:15 on Tuesday 20 March.

The Vernal (Spring) Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere is the Autumnal (Fall) Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa.

There are two equinoxes every year - in September and March - when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal - but not quite.

In a year there are two equinoxes (spring and autumn) and two solstices (summer and winter).

So today (Tuesday 20 March 2018) is the first day of spring according to the astronomical calendar for us in the Northern Hemisphere and will officially mark the beginning of spring.

For our friends in the Southern Hemisphere this means the beginning of autumn.

The name comes from the Latin word equi (meaning 'equal') and nox (meaning 'night').

What does this mean?

With the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere the earth begins to tilt towards the sun which means that our days start to get longer and our nights shorter.

So this should mean the promise of warmer days and the arrival of spring, but after the mini blast from the east at the weekend it is hard to believe.

When do the clocks go forward?

The clocks go forward on Sunday, March 25 at 1am, which means you should put your clock forward an hour.

The clocks always go forward an hour on the last weekend in March in spring and go back on the final weekend of October in autumn.