Tag Archives: Spring

Astronomy, Climatology

Image captures the start of spring as seen from space

Leave a comment

Spring officially began this morning at 5:02am MDT.  It is during this time, the vernal equinox, that the Earth’s axis is not tilted toward or away from the Sun.  As a result equal amounts of the Sun’s light are directed to the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Soon after the event this morning one of NOAA’s GOES satellites captured the light on the face of the planet in near perfect equilibrium.

1309v1_20130320-Equinox.png
At 7:02 ET on March 20, 2013, Earth was at its equinox. At 7:45 ET, the GOES-13 satellite captured this full disk image of Earth. (NOAA) Click the image for a larger view.

From NOAA:

Mar 20, 2013
GOES Satellite Captures Spring Equinox
It is that time of year again (it happens twice) when the relative angle of Earth is perpendicular to the Sun, causing equal incoming solar energy to the Northern and Southern hemispheres – as well as equal day and nighttime. At 7:02 ET on March 20, 2013, Earth was at its equinox. At 7:45 ET, the GOES-13 satellite captured this full disk image of Earth. The visible imagery sensor on GOES requires sunlight to “see” clouds, and so it provides a useful example of the equinox. In this image the GOES imagery extends to each of the poles since the entire hemisphere is equally lit. After the equinox passes today, the Northern Hemisphere will be more lit than the Southern Hemisphere – causing the seasons. (Note: the Sun in this image is artificially created, though the GOES spacecraft does have sensors continually monitoring the Sun for solar activity.)

Thornton Weather, World Weather

Winter comes to a close as spring begins on Sunday

Leave a comment
Why do we have seasons?
Why do we have seasons? It is all thanks to the tilt of the Earth's axis. (NASA / NOAA)

We are now in the waning hours of winter as spring is set to arrive in Thornton later today – at 5:21pm to be exact.  The changing of the seasons from winter to spring means longer days, warmer temperatures and a greening landscape.

The Earth experiences seasons thanks to its 23 1/2 degree tilt.  As the planet circles the sun, a process that takes 365 1/4 days, different parts of the Earth are tilted closer to or farther away from the sun.

The vernal equinox (the first day of spring) is the day on which the sun is directly over the Earth’s equator and daylight lasts 12 hours in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.  This is because at this point the Earth’s axis is 90 degrees away from the sun.

From now until the summer solstice, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere get closer to the sun and thus enjoy the warming temperatures and experience spring and summer.  In the Southern Hemisphere they experience the opposite and for them today is the first day of autumn.

Animated vernal equinox
The vernal equinox brings nearly equal daytime and nighttime across the globe.

Here is Colorado, thanks to our northern latitude, we have already passed the point of 12 hours of equal daytime and nighttime, something that occurred just a few days ago.  Today in fact daytime will last 12 hours and 7 minutes.

Did you know that there is a difference between the astronomical seasons that we are discussing here and meteorological seasons?

Meteorological seasons differ slightly and are geared toward matching the calendar with the annual temperature cycle.  This is done primarily for meteorological observing and forecasting.

For the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological spring covers the months of March, April and May.  Summer brings the hottest months of the year and so meteorological summer is June, July and August.  Meteorological fall then is September, October and November followed by the coldest months of December, January and February as meteorological winter.