According to the calendar it鈥檚 the first day of spring today.

It arrived Tuesday morning in the northern hemisphere at 9:15 a.m., even though most of British Columbia is still cloaked beneath a cloudy sky with a strong chance of rain this week.

The month of March tends to be hit or miss when meteorologists attempt to forecast the weather, but plants and animals seem to have much less trouble as new buds have already began to poke their heads above ground, trees have begun to blossom and varieties of birds are back in numbers.

The first day of spring also follows daylight savings time, providing everyone with more opportunity to spend time outdoors due to longer daylight hours. It鈥檚 also the only time of the year that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west for everyone in the world 鈥� the sun would pass directly over your head if you were standing on the equator!

Spring days are roughly made up of 12 hours of daylight, which increase as the season progresses. The climate also begins to shift, although anyone visiting the subtropical or tropical areas may also associate spring with the dry or wet season, monsoonal or cyclonic. This is caused by unstable weather when warm air begins to invade lower latitudes while cold air is still pushing from the polar regions. Flooding is also more common in mountainous areas because of snow-melt accelerated by warm rains.

Spring will last until June 21, and then the seasons change again with summer coming into full swing as the climate heats up in North America.

It鈥檚 a great time to get up and get active outdoors and remember to send your best photos and video to your local Black Press newsroom!

ragnar.haagen@bpdigital.ca
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