Happy March everyone. We’re finally coming up on the start of spring! We’re starting off the month with sunrise at 7:05 am and sunset at 6:23 pm for a total of 11 hours and 19 minutes of daylight. We will have daylight savings on the night of Sunday, March 8th, shifting the clocks forward by one hour. We’ll be ending the month on March 31 with sunrise at 7:17 am and sunset at 7:55 pm.
On March 3rd, we will begin the month with a full moon (historically known as the Worm Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sap Moon, and the Lenten Moon by various peoples) and a total lunar eclipse. This happens when the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, causing it to appear redder and darker. On March 19th, we will have a new moon, yielding good opportunities to observe the night sky due to the lack of moonlight. Finally, March 20th, will be the vernal equinox (or the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere). This marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of fall in the Southern Hemisphere. During an equinox, neither hemisphere is tilted closer to or farther from the Sun, causing there to be (approximately) equal hours of daylight and nighttime.
Diagram depicting the equinoxes and solstices from EarthSky.
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