Hang in, spring is coming
The Journal reminds us Wednesday is the vernal equinox (twice a year I get to remind journalists there’s nothing “official” about it, although they almost always use this word, whether in English or French).
This piece also says days will get longer after the equinox, which is true, but they’ve been getting longer since the winter solstice a few days before Christmas. It’s not the equinox that’s the turning point.
This piece also says there will be snow Wednesday night.
Raymond Lutz 18:36 on 2019-03-18 Permalink
Et l’heure officielle de l’arrivée du printemps sera 16h58 selon la Fédération des astronomes amateurs du Québec. 😎
Ian 19:16 on 2019-03-18 Permalink
Crazy they’re calling for snow overnight Wednesday, the high during the day will be 7, enjoy it if you can … this is such a nutty time of year. Just remember even though it’s legal to switch to summer tires it’s best to wait until it’s consistently 7C overnight.
Chris 22:44 on 2019-03-18 Permalink
Kate, can u elaborate on what’s not “official” about it?
Kate 06:59 on 2019-03-19 Permalink
Chris, an example: Canada Day is our official federal holiday. That’s because human beings decided it would be so, and enshrined it in law. In contrast, the equinoxes and solstices are due to the tilt of the Earth and its effects on the light and the temperature on various parts of the globe at key points of the year. They have nothing to do with human decisions or offices: they’re simple geometrical facts. We observe them, but we sure as hell did not ordain them.
Kevin 07:16 on 2019-03-19 Permalink
Meteorological spring started March 1, but I argue that seasons come around whenever they damn well feel like it.
Raymond Lutz 07:39 on 2019-03-19 Permalink
And I guess “The earth is a globe” is a simple geometrical fact too? NO! it’s an official narrative, planted into our head by the system.
Mark Côté 12:16 on 2019-03-19 Permalink
I’d say it’s even further than what Kate says: at what point did we decide that spring starts with the equinox? If there was some official body that decided that, _then_ it would be official. It’s just some random definition that suddenly people started calling “official”. We have four seasons, sure, but there’s nothing that says they have to be of equal length.
Chris 22:22 on 2019-03-19 Permalink
Mark, it’s hardly a ‘random definition’. It has a precise scientific definition that you can read about here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox
Kate, thanks for clarifying your meaning. Not sure I agree with you though. OED defines ‘official’ as ‘Relating to an authority or public body and its activities and responsibilities’. Professional astronomers are an authority in their field and one of their activities is codifying astronomical events/occurrences. Thus their definition of the equinoxes is ‘official’. But we can agree to disagree.
jeather 11:03 on 2019-03-20 Permalink
The earth is neither a sphere nor a globe, though a globe is a spherical representation of a planet or a star or the star map. The earth is an oblate spheroid, though it is very close to spherical.
Blork 12:02 on 2019-03-20 Permalink
I want to form a punk band and call it “Oblate Spheroids.”
Mark Côté 14:39 on 2019-03-20 Permalink
I didn’t mean that “equinox” has a random definition, lol. I do respect the precision of science.
I meant the fact that equinoxes (and solstices) are used to denote some sort of “official” beginning to the seasons is random (well, “arbitrary” is a better word, admittedly). From the article you quoted (emphasis mine), “The equinoxes are *sometimes* regarded as the start of spring and autumn.” Astronomers of course define equinoxes and solstices, but they don’t, as far as I understand, define *seasons* in any sort of “official” way.
And even if they did, why does the day and night being equal in length mean that it is now spring? Of what utility is that? Just so we can agree that “today is spring” even though we’re then going to go on about how it does (and never does) “feel like spring”? A much more useful “official” definition of spring, were such a thing to happen, would be some sort of meteorological or biological event, like temperatures rising above a certain point, or the first buds on trees, or something like that.
Mark Côté 14:41 on 2019-03-20 Permalink
Ha, seems the Swedes and Finns get me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season#Meteorological
Chris 18:04 on 2019-03-20 Permalink
Mark, ah, I see now. You’re talking about ‘seasons’, I am not. Note that Kate didn’t discuss ‘seasons’ at all either. I’m talking only about equinox/solstice. I agree that the seasons are ‘arbitrary’, but fitting them to the equinox/solstice is not unreasonable.
Kevin 22:04 on 2019-03-20 Permalink
Chris,
Without meaning to cause any offence, I have been wondering, from that comment and several others you have made, why you fail to recognize common turns of phrase and interpret many statements in an extremely literal manner?
How does a post to an article about spring, tied to Kate’s riff on the common mispractice of calling the equinox the official start of spring, lead to you saying that you are not talking about seasons?
I am genuinely interested, since one thing I aim for in writing is clarity, and yet I do periodically get questions from readers who have clearly missed the point I was trying to make.
Mark Côté 09:31 on 2019-03-21 Permalink
The lede of the article is “L’arrivée du printemps se fera officiellement mercredi”. If Kate mentioned the word “official”, it didn’t take much digging to figure out which mention of “official” she was referring to.