Welcome Spring

Staff Photo by Jeff Depew

Spring has finally arrived in Jefferson County and with it the Vernal Equinox. The Vernal Equinox is the time that the day and night have perfect balance. It also marks the beginning of rapidly increasing hours of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. Though the beginning of Spring is often considered to be the 21^st  of March, in reality March 21^st has marked the beginning of Spring only about 1/3 of the time in a hundred year period. The remainder of the time, Spring has come on or before March 20^th.  Locals can call Spring the official season as of 7:02 am on Wednesday and it will last until the Summer Solstice, which marks the longest day of the year, on June 21, 2013. Spring is the second longest season of the year and summer is the longest. The seasons are slowly meshing, as Spring is losing around 1 minute per year and Summer is gaining that minute. Winter is losing ½ minute per year to Autumn. The next full moon will be on March 27, 2013, which is significant because Easter falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.