It is spring today - the March equinox happens at 11:50pm EDT - just minutes before the normal range of March 20 - 21st. And this early spring is something that will be around for a while, quite a while.
The Old Farmer's Almanac says it is the earliest spring in 124 years. Here's the explanation for its earliness:
"As every century wears on, the date slips earlier to the 20th and possibly even to the 19th of March, but this slippage gets halted and rectified by the omission of a leap day during the next century year, like in 1700, 1800 and 1900. That creates a sudden “jump” of one day, with the first day of summer, spring, and winter pushed to the 21st again, and all seems right with the world."
"Anyway, because 2000 had a leap day instead of omitting it, thanks to that once-every-four-century-tweak, ensuing equinoxes were prevented from returning to the 21st, and solstices and equinoxes instead continued to creep earlier. The equinox slipped from the 21st to the 20th, where it’s been for many years now, and it’s still creeping earlier. Now, finally, it’s reached the point where the equinox happens on the 19th for US time zones. Later this century, it’ll even start happening on the 19th in the Greenwich time observed in the UK."
On to various jokes: I was up all night wondering where the sun had gone … then it dawned on me. What kind of songs do the planets like to sing? Nep-tunes
And what about this one? If you named your son Dale Jr. and your name isn’t Dale…
Wonderful model railroad pictures today - these from the Sacramento visit.
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