Weather Whys: Earliest spring in over a century

 

Happy Spring! Thursday, March 19 is the first day of spring which may cause some of you to ask if it's an early spring? The answer is yes. We discuss in today's Weather Whys.

The vernal equinox officially happens at 10:50 p.m. Thursday night when the sun's rays will be directly over the equator. Spring is most commonly on March 20 and sometimes even March 21. 2020 spring is the earliest since 1896. In 2019 the vernal equinox happened 18 hours later. The reason for the early spring has a couple of different factors mainly because of the Leap Year. 2096 will have the earliest vernal equinox of the century.

Weather Whys is a segment by Meteorologist Justin Thompson-Gee that airs during the CBS 58 News on WMLW - The M from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. The segment answers viewer weather questions, explains weather phenomena and reveals interesting weather stats. To submit your question reach out to Justin on Facebook, Twitter or by emailing him at [email protected].