Forum home› The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

What day is your spring solstice ?

Hampshire_HogHampshire_Hog Posts: 1,089
in The potting shed
Official the spring solstice is 20th March but actually here in the northern hemisphere it happens a little earlier for all of us for instance here on the south coast our nearest to equal day and night will be on Monday 18th Sunrise will be 06.13 and sunset 18.14. so we start spring two days early ☀😎😊

The official version: 
An equinox is commonly regarded as the instant of time when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the centre of the Sun. This occurs twice each year: around 20 March and 23 September. In other words, it is the moment at which the centre of the visible Sun is directly above the Equator. 

"You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
«1

Posts

  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,190
    The Equinox is as the official version states. However, this is NOT the same time as equal day and night. For one thing, atmospheric refraction makes the Sun seem higher than it is. Also, the Sun is not a point but a disc, and sunrise is when just the top of the disk is visible. These two effects make days slightly longer than they would otherwise be. In the Autumn, day and night are equal length a few days after the Equinox.
  • Hampshire_HogHampshire_Hog Posts: 1,089
    No the equinox gives exactly equal day and night if you are on the equator on the 20th March or 23rd September the rest of the world north or south is different I was asking when people get there equal day night I understand the system why and how completely it was just a simple question.

    "You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Here in Billericay, according to BBC Weather, on the 18 Mar the sun rises at 06:07 and sets at 18:07
    A nugget I read or saw somewhere indicated that Spring travels from South to North at approx 2 mph - and only 2 weeks to go until the clocks spring forward - hooray!!

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Hampshire_HogHampshire_Hog Posts: 1,089
    The clocks going forward always makes me feel spring has really arrived that extra time in the garden in the evening 🍷😎

    "You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,190
    Hampshire_Hog said:
    No the equinox gives exactly equal day and night if you are on the equator on the 20th March or 23rd September the rest of the world north or south is different 
    Not true. for Singapore, 1 degree north of the Equator, the day length is a few minutes more than 12 hours every day, for the reasons I have given.

    https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/singapore/singapore 
  • Hampshire_HogHampshire_Hog Posts: 1,089
    On Earth, daytime is roughly the period of the day during which any given point in the world ... Although the daytime length at the Equator remains 12 hours in all seasons, the duration at all other latitudes varies with the seasons. ... is usually a few days before the spring equinox and extends a few days past the fall equinox).

    "You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    mine is when the man on the BBC tells me it is
    Devon.
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    For me, and the rest of the UK, the equinox is on the 20th, but approximately equal day and night (12:01 day, 11:59 night for me) is on the 18th. Near the spring/autumn equinoxes the rate of change of day length is at its greatest, so on the 19th the day is nearly four minutes longer than the 18th, so 12:05 day, 11:55 night. And a jolly good thing too :smile:
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    18th here for equal day and night - 6.22 - 18.23.

    I count the equinox as being when the sun sets directly behind the barn on the hill opposite. It needs to not be raining for me to notice, which hasn't happened for a while
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited March 2019
    Solstice happens in summer and winter and marks the longest and shortest days.

    Equinox happens in spring and autumn when day length is equal to night length and that's a movable feast depending on your latitude.  If you're on the equator, equinox is barely different from solstice.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
Sign In or Register to comment.