Vernal Equinox Happening Saturday in Southeast Minnesota

We've had a pretty mild winter and some really nice, warm spring-like days already this year, but get ready-- the official start of spring will take place this weekend throughout southeast Minnesota!

That's right, if I remember my high school physical science correctly, what's known as the vernal equinox (or spring equinox) will happen this Saturday evening here in Rochester. Which means, basically, that we made it through another Minnesota winter!

But what's the actual science behind it? Well timeanddate.com, defines it like this: "On the equinoxes the Sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal – but not quite. The March equinox marks the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north and vice versa in September."

In June, of course, we experience the the summer solstice-- the day with the most amount of sunlight, then in September it's the autumnal equinox-- much like this weekend, when the amount of day and night is almost equal. In December, then, we experience the winter solstice, the day with the least amount of sunlight.