# The earliest spring in 124 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2020, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787 "2020-03-19T04:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/1 "2020-03-19T04:37:48Z")
Tonight, at 11:49 EDT, will be the vernal equinox. It will be [the earliest spring since 1896](https://www.space.com/vernal-equinox-2020-earliest-spring-124-years.html). The reason has to do with Pope Gregory XIII, Daylight Saving Time and leap year. Not this leap year, but the one back in 2000. It’s complicated. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/2 "2020-03-19T05:56:02Z")
And it’s the one I’ll probably enjoy the least of all my years on earth. And yeah, I know seasons mean nothing to Chicago ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/3 "2020-03-19T06:59:50Z")
At first I though this would be a Global Warming thread. But it’s only clocks and calendars. Whew. I vaguely recall an XKCD episode about a fixed-interval calendar, with exactly 12 hours each between sunrise and sunset every day; 28 days exactly between full moons; and three months exactly between each solstice and equinox. Sure, we need an app to track dates & times, but most of us do already. (I trigger my phone. Bedtime!) > [@panache45](#): > > Tonight, at 11:49 EDT, will be the vernal equinox. It will be [the earliest spring since 1896](https://www.space.com/vernal-equinox-2020-earliest-spring-124-years.html). The reason has to do with Pope Gregory XIII, Daylight Saving Time and leap year. Not this leap year, but the one back in 2000. It’s complicated. Are leap-seconds and axial-tilt shift factored in? And my screen reads 11:59 PDT so I missed it already. Should have set an alarm… > [@dalej42](#): > > And yeah, I know seasons mean nothing to [del]Chicago[/del] San Diego Fixed for you. Paradise on Earth awaits you there. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/4 "2020-03-19T11:00:21Z")
I didn’t really have a winter this year. Around 15-16 years ago I spent a lot of time looking for “exotic” looking plants that would grow outside in my plant hardiness zone 8a. Looked at all the info I could find on cycads and found two that would possibly fit the bill–the “sago palm” _Cycas revoluta_ that you will find in fancier waiting rooms everywhere, and one called _Cycas taitungensis_. I bought one _C. revoluta_ with around a double-fist-sized trunk and a number of much smaller ones from Ebay and one double-fister of the much less common and significantly more expensive _C. taitungensis_ elsewhere. Cycads put out one or two “throws” of leaves every year–those that you see growing with layer after layer of fronds are displaying multiple year’s growth. The ones I bought–it turned out–could sorta survive the winter, but each year’s leaves died, leaving them to look pretty sparce having only one set of leaves at a time (after I cut off the deads.) When I say “sorta” survive, I mean that the\* C. revolutas\* made it several years but one by one eventually were killed by the winter. But the\* C. taitungensis\* was a real survivor, coming back every spring after the winter leaf death. Except for this winter–for the first time, the leaves didn’t die. For the first time since I planted it, the winter never got cold enough long enough to kill them. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/5 "2020-03-19T13:04:38Z")
Southern Merrylande didn’t really have winter either. We had a dusting of snow one day, and a few days below freezing, but that was it. I’m beginning to dread summer - will it be exceptionally warm also? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/6 "2020-03-19T13:37:29Z")
We have a [winter storm warning.]([WWA Summary by Location with COZ034/COC117/COZ212](https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=COZ034&warncounty=COC117&firewxzone=COZ212&local_place1=2) Miles SE Breckenridge CO&product1=Winter+Storm+Warning&lat=39.4834&lon=-106.026#.XnNzxjFYaM8) 9-18 inches of snow by Friday 6am. Springtime in the Rockies. 🙂 Actually, it’s the beginning of mud season. Oh well, it has been pretty nice for the last two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/7 "2020-03-19T15:37:54Z")
Forecast high of 75 today, low of 26 tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/8 "2020-03-19T20:44:31Z")
We paid a snow plow guy $320 to clear our driveway for the season. He had to come exactly once. That was one expensive plowing! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/9 "2020-03-19T20:48:22Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > We paid a snow plow guy $320 to clear our driveway for the season. He had to come exactly once. That was one expensive plowing! Thats what…she said? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earliest-spring-in-124-years/849787/10 "2020-03-19T22:23:09Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > … And my screen reads 11:59 PDT so I missed it already. Should have set an alarm… He posted after midnight, his time. VE is tonight (Mar 19) at 20:49 PDT