Vernal Equinox 2010

Vernal Equinox 2010 will arrived on Saturday at 1732 GMT. It happens twice a year when the night and day are approximately equally long.

The day also on which the north and south poles of the earth are equal distances from the sun (92.6 million miles).

The sun will stand directly over the Earth’s equator. It is also known as the first day of spring. Vernal meaning green and equinox meaning equal night — on the equinox the hours of daylight are nearly equal to the hours of night.

• If you are from Portland on Saturday, the noon sun (1:18 p.m.) will reach its mid-point in the sky near 45 degrees from the southern horizon.

• On the first day of spring, the sun rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west. Each successive day thereafter it rises and sets just a little bit farther to the north until the summer solstice on June 20, the first day of summer, when the sun reaches its northernmost point along the horizon and actually seems to “stand still” and rise and set in the same place for a few days. In fact, the word “solstice” means “sun stands still.”

• From March 21 until Sept. 24, the days are longer than the nights for the northern hemisphere.

While Saturday will certainly feel like spring, with highs near 70, Sunday will be a much different story, as late winter returns for one last gasp. As typical with early spring though, as the sun moves to a position farther north of the Equator, it’s rays tend to warm things up pretty quickly after a cold snap, and that is expected to occur early next week.

The weather has been totally different compare to previous years, but vernal equinox should remain the same, or is it? Is the earth tilted more? Is vernal equinox really equal this year?