The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Mayans celebrated the resurrections of their gods during the spring equinox. “Every culture has some sort of story around the vernal equinox,” he said. Mike Dittman, a professor of English at Butler Count Community College and an amateur folklorist, said that for many cultures, the arrival of the new season was the renewal of life itself, the triumph of light over darkness. In this case, the observance of Easter can occur between April 4 and May 8, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Many Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian. ![]() Over a 500-year period (from 1600 to 2099 AD), it just so happens that Easter will have most often been celebrated on either March 31 or April 16. However, it is always on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. (Eastern Orthodox Easter will take place Sunday, April 24.)Įaster this year is just one day after April’s full moon (April 16), which is the first full moon to occur after the vernal equinox and is therefore known in the Christian calendar as the “Paschal Full Moon“ and it determines the date of Easter.Įaster is a “movable feast” and does not have a fixed date. Other cultures see a more spiritual aspect to the sun’s course across the sky.įor instance, the vernal equinox is used to determine the date of Easter every year.Īccording to the editors at the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this year Easter will be observed on Sunday, April 17. That’s the scientific reason behind noting the vernal equinox. ![]() While there is a gradual warming trend this month, Hendricks warned there can also be snowstorms as well, citing the winter blast of March 1993. Temperature highs and lows for this time of year, Hendricks said, are 51 and 31 degrees. The equinox really has no effect on the weather. “That’s really the official time when spring arrives meteorologically speaking.” “It’s the gradual lifting of the sun into the sky in the Northern Hemisphere,” he said. Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist with the Pittsburgh office of the National Weather Service, said of the vernal equinox: “It’s just really showing when the sun is more high in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere. “This is noticeable if you are driving along an east-west road, the rising sun hits your eye if you are driving east in the early morning,” he said. Dawn and dusk merge.Īccording to Mukherjee, on the first day of spring and fall, the sun rises precisely in the east and sets in the west. For a visitor to the North Pole, this would mean observing the sun skirting the horizon throughout the entire day on vernal equinox. However, Mukherjee said, during the equinox, the noon time height of the sun above the horizon is equal to ninety degrees minus your latitude. The sun starts to climb higher after the winter solstice and this continues until summer solstice when the noon time sun reaches its maximum height. Without a tilt, the day and night would be equal length throughout the year and we would have one season, according to Mukherjee. ![]() On those two days, the length of day and night are equal. On this day, the Northern Hemisphere is transitioning from tipping away from the sun to towards it.Ī planet’s axial tilt makes the vernal and autumnal equinox special. From now until late June the sun will climb higher in the sky until the days reach their maximum length.Īccording to Krishna Mukherjee, assistant professor in the department of physics and engineering at Slippery Rock University, the word vernal originates from Latin meaning spring, and equinox means equal night. For the first time since September, the sun is entering the northern half of the celestial sphere. Seb Foltz/Butler EagleĮven though last weekend’s snow storm may not exactly seem like a herald of spring, nothing can stop the season from arriving astronomically speaking. Seeds on the shelf at Oesterling's Lawn & Garden store in Butler stand ready for spring planting season, a season marked by the vernal equinox which arrives Sunday.
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