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Spring begins March 20; Easter is April 9

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It is both the end of winter and the binning of spring, as the vernal equinox occurs at 3:24 MDT Monday, March 20.

Astronomical spring begins with the equinox, which comes from the Latin word for “equal night.”

However, day and night are not each 12 hours long on the equinox everywhere in the world, as the day is a little longer than the night.

The date when day and night are actually equal is called the equilux – Latin for “equal light.” That occurred March 16 in Las Cruces.

In case you are wondering, the 2023 summer solstice occurs at 8:58 a.m. Wednesday, June 21, which is also the longest day of the year (at least in theory). The autumnal equinox occurs at 12:50 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23. The winter solstice is at 8:28 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21.

Upcoming full moons are the Full Pink Moon (also the Paschal Full Moon, whose date determines the date of Easter), which occurs at 1:34 p.m. Wednesday, April 5; the Full Flower Moon, which occurs at 11:34 a.m. Friday, May 5; the Full Strawberry Moon, which occurs at 9:42 p.m. Saturday, June 3; and the Full Buck Moon, which occurs at 5:39 a.m. Monday, July 3, and is the first full moon of the summer.

The first blue moon – the second full moon of a calendar year – is 7:35 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30. The August full moon is also often referred to as the Full Sturgeon Moon.

The full moon names used by The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from Native American, colonial American and European sources, according to almanac.com.


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