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For residents of the United States, the spring of 2026 not only brings longer days and flowers, but also arrives with exact astronomical precision. The phenomenon known as the spring equinox (or vernal equinox) occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator from south to north, making day and night almost equal in length all over the planet.
Exact date and time of the 2026 equinox
This year, spring will officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere on Friday, March 20, 2026. Depending on your time zone in the United States, these are the exact times:
- Eastern Time (ET): 10:46 a.m.
- Central Time (CT): 9:46 a.m.
What does the spring equinox mean?
The word comes from the Latin aequinoctium, meaning "equal night". It is one of the two times of the year when the Earth's axis is neither tilted towards nor away from the sun. From this Friday, residents of cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles will begin to notice that the sun rises earlier and sets later each day until the summer solstice in June.
The science behind the phenomenon
Unlike "meteorological spring", which always begins on March 1 to facilitate the recording of weather data, astronomical spring depends on the position of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun
Due to the 23.5-degree tilt of the Earth's axis, our seasons change as different parts of the planet receive more or less direct sunlight. During the equinox, Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun, resulting in an almost identical distribution of light and darkness.