Spring arrives today

Today is the first day of spring for Earth’s northern hemisphere, also known as the vernal equinox, .  At this point in the planet’s annual orbit, the sun appears directly over the equator, producing essentially the same amount of time in daylight and darkness over today’s 24 hours.  Then, for the northern half of the planet, daylight hours steadily increase until the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, in June.  Time in daylight will then start to decline again, eventually reaching the autumnal equinox this fall.