LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Thursday at exactly 10:49:32 p.m. CDT marks the start of astronomical spring. It is the earliest start to Spring in 124 years. This is due to 2020 being a leap year and Daylight Saving Time.
Spring Equinox, or what we consider the official start of Spring, is the exact point when the sun is directly over the equator. It is at this precise moment in time that Earth’s axis is pointed neither toward (like in summer) or away (like in winter) from the sun.
Equinox means “equal night” in Latin, except the length of day to night on the Spring Equinox is not exactly equal. During spring equinoxes, there is just a little more daylight than nighttime.
It is the equilux “equal light”, when there is exactly 12 hours of day to 12 hours of night. The equilux in 2020 was Monday, March 16. Every year, the equilux is a few days before the equinox.
Here are the Spring Equinox times in Little Rock from the past few years:
2016: March 19, 11:30 p.m. CDT
2017: March 20, 5:28 a.m. CDT
2018: March 20, 11:15 p.m. CDT
2019: March 20, 4:58 p.m. CDT
2020: March 19, 10:49 p.m. CDT
Next year’s spring equinox is March 20, 2021 at 4:37 p.m. CDT.
The next time our Spring Equinox is on March 19 is the Leap Year in 2024 at 10:06 p.m. CDT.
