Meteorological Spring

News & Press: Natural world

28 February 2023 (0 Comments)

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1 March represents the start of meteorological Spring in the northern hemisphere, covering March, April & May, with the other seasons following in 3-month periods.

But, astronomically, Spring starts at the Vernal Equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator into the northern hemisphere - this year at 2124 UTC (~GMT) on 20 March. Astronomical Summer then starts at the Summer Solstice - 1557 UTC on 21 June, when the Sun is at its highest northerly latitude of 23º26’.

In 2002, the EU stipulated that all member states should adopt ’Summer Time’ between the last Sundays in March and October - the clocks to change at 0100 UTC. So, this year BST will apply from 26 March to 29 October. It is assumed that UK will continue to remain synchronised with the EU.

Further details from timeanddate.com