Solar Spring has Arrived

Well... traditionally the spring equinox arrives around March 21-22... so officially... we are still well into winter. The spring equinox is defined as when the sun is directly overhead the equator at solar noon.

Now meteorologists have a slightly different defination of spring. Meteorological spring is a little earlier... arriving March 1... and running through the end of May. These are months you see the transition in temperatures from winter to summer.

But you may not have heard of "solar winter" and "solar spring". Solar winter officially went out Sunday and we are now in solar spring.

Solar spring is the transition between solar winter and summer.

Solar winter is the quarter of the year with the least amount of daylight for the Northern Hemisphere... and solar summer is the quarter of the year with the most amount of daylight for the Northern Hemisphere.

Right now... the sun's rays are getting stronger in the northern hemisphere... albeit at a slow pace. The days will continue to get longer and longer all the way through June... when traditional summer solstice begins.

So as you can see... there is a difference between solar winter and what we traditionally refer to as winter. It's due to what is called seasonal lag. The summer and fall warmth carries into the first part of winter. In a similar fashion... the cold from winter will carry into the first part of spring.

A similar lag occurs in ocean temperatures. When air temperatures begin to get warmer in the spring, ocean waters remain colder... and when air temperatures start to drop in the fall, ocean waters still remain warm for a while.

There is a lag between the rates of change of seasonal daylight and seasonal temperatures much the same way!

Hope this clears up some of the different forms of the seasons you will hear from time to time.

If you have any additional questions... or would like me to answer a weather question... drop me a line at FHaywood@wsav.com.