Pucker up and kiss Old Man Winter goodbye.
The sun moves across the celestial equator today at 11:58 p.m. Denver time, bringing spring to the northern hemisphere.
And spring is running a little bit early this year, said Richard Wagner, a professor of meteorology at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
“Next year, it will be about six hours later,” Wagner said. “At about 6 a.m. on the 20th (of March).”
The time, and sometimes date, of the equinox varies because the year is made up of, roughly, 365 and 1/4 days.
The vernal equinox tonight means Thursday is the first full day of spring — a day when the sunrise and sunset are exactly due east and due west.
“Basically, you can say that the sun is crossing the equator. Now it’s facing the northern hemisphere rather than the southern hemisphere,” Wagner said.
The equinox, a celestial sign that summer is on its way to the north as winter heads toward the southern hemisphere, is a movement humans have been charting and watching for thousands of years.
“Gardeners are very attuned to this,” Wagner said. “Gardeners are already out there planting their peas; they are a little more frost resistent.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
