I need to know about Spring

[andrewducker]

Poll #28667

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 52

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When does spring start

View Answers

March 1st/September 1st
10 (19.2%)

The equinox
19 (36.5%)

When the first flowers appear
13 (25.0%)

Something else I will explain in comments
10 (19.2%)

Comments

[bens_dad]

I have ticked the equinox but the answer is that it depends who and where you are.
When I was growing up diaries suggested it started at the equinox and I was happy with that.

It seems that the UK Met Office have decided it starts on March 1st.

"When the first flowers appear" captures something that the other options miss, but snowdrops appear in January so it isn't quite right.

One March I had a bus trip from Aberdeen to Exeter. It was obvious that nature was about two weeks ahead in Exeter.
Equally climbing a mountain can show how spring is later higher up.

Spring is a temperate and arctic phenomenon; it doesn't happen in the tropics.

[andrewducker]

Snowdrops *clearly* an exception. They have "snow" in their name and everything.
Crocuses, on the other hand...

I tend to take it from March 1st.

And yes, at least two weeks earlier at my parent's house (15 minutes drive from Exeter).

[lilysea]

When people with Seasonal Affective Disorder stop feeling Depressed or More Depressed Than Usual.

[conuly]

It has always been absurd to me that the first day of summer is Midsummer and the first day of winter is Midwinter.

Thus, even if nobody else in these modern times agrees with me, I always offset my season-starting dates by six weeks. Spring starts February 2nd, summer starts May 1, fall starts August 1, and winter starts October 31.

I will die on this hill.

[conuly]

BTW, as always, I say "If it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for me".

Shall I compare thee to a summer day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

You heard it here - May = summer.

[andrewducker]

December->February (the coldest three)
March->May (crocuses and daffodils in early March)
June->August (the hottest three)
September->November (first leaves change in September)

[naath]

I agree, sping starts with candelmass

[swampers]

Meteorological or astronomical? Northern Hemisphere or Southern?

[andrewducker]

First option clearly covers both.

And whatever it means to *you*.

[chess]

I just use three months, so winter is Dec Jan Feb, spring is Mar Apr May, summer is Jun Jul Aug, and autumn is Sep Oct Nov.

[andrewducker]

Same

[purplerabbits]

In terms of light 1st February. In the most frequently used modern pagan calendar start of February is Imbolc (or Ewe milk) which is the start of spring, Equinox is mid Spring, 1st May is Beltane and start of Summer, Summer Solstice is midsummer, 1st August is Lughnasadh is start of autumn because it's the harvest, Autumn Equinox is mid autumn Halloween/Samhain is start of winter, and Winter Solstice is midwinter.

Temperature does lag behind Sunlight times by about a month though, in my head, so 1st March is also good for start of Spring. Any later is just silly :-)

[alithea]

Imbolc *really* doesn't feel like spring when you live north of the Central Belt in Scotland! But then Gardner et al who came up with that calendar all lived in Southern England, didn't they?

[rhythmaning]

The answer is, of course, "it depends".

Astronomical spring is the equinox.

My personal spring is when I first go out with a coat and think "I didn't need a coat". This year, that coincided with the equinox - it was really warm yesterday! (I did need a coat later, though, what with it it raining.)

Most important, perhaps, one could call botanical spring: when the plants start becoming active. I noticed daffodils about three weeks ago, together with discarded catkins on the path. Plus a definite increase in bird activity, most notably their song.

All these phenomena seen to improve my mood; the world just seems a better place. (Global catastrophes notwithstanding.)

[cmcmck]

When the sun blazes into our eyes upon opening the bedroom blinds first thing! :o)

[andrewducker]

Spring for people with West-facing bedrooms: never!

[alithea]

I answered 1st March as the *standard* I use but in reality, spring up here generally starts somewhere between 1st March and the Equinox and I define it by some combination of day light length, temperature and nature signals - daffodils flowering and things budding. There's just a point in March where it *feels* like spring.

[draigwen]

With the kids I will tend to say 1 March. But really I would say it is the flowers, and a change in the weather (ignoring late snows). Just as autumn would be about the leaves falling down.

[jack]

After the last cold snap. Not my fault you don't know until afterwards :)

[azurelunatic]

I like this one as well. I'd define cold snap as "hard frost" or worse.

[ninetydegrees]

I picked the equinox but I could also have picked March 1st. I'd say that if I think of the four seasons all together then it's March 1st, and if I think about spring specifically as in "oh it's spring now or something" then it's the equinox because that's what traditional in my country. I would have picked option #3 in the past but seasonal timing has often become unpredictable where I live because of climate change.

[danieldwilliam]

For what purpose do you wish to know when Spring starts? That's the question.

The Australian Aboriginal calendar in the Nothern Territory has many seasons, most of which start when a thing happens - the barramundi fishing season starts when barramundi appear and the not falling in flooding rivers season starts when the heavy rains start.

[andrewducker]

I agree, that's definitely the question.

I saw a bunch of people arguing over whether it was the equinox or the start of March, and I think that both of those are The Wrong Answer. They're a nice easy answer for people who want a fixed date for Spring, but Spring is a process, whereby green things start to sprout, and growing kicks off. Attempting to nail it to a fixed date doesn't really actually do anything very much except give you a nice handy answer for quizzes, or when 4-year-olds ask "Is it spring yet?"

[channelpenguin]

past equinox + no daytime frost.

[adrian_turtle]

Spring begins when we set the clocks forward.

[andrewducker]

Japan doesn't get a spring. Gotcha. :-)

[movingfinger]

Spring to me begins February 2, which is a convenient traditional point to hang a lot of local conditions on: the days are perceptibly longer than the midwinter and SAD begins to lift; the earliest-blossoming flowers begin appearing (though winter-flowering ones such as hellebores, Sasanqua camellia, and witch hazel are still going) and bulbs such as narcissus begin to break ground. The earliest plum blossoms, in sheltered areas, begin to open.

Similarly, the arc of long days starting at the beginning of May are true summer, with bright evenings, dry weather, and the accelerating avalanche of produce. At the beginning of August the fall fruits are coming and leaves begin turning color.

[channelpenguin]

Plum blossom? In Feb? We won't see that until well into April!

[azurelunatic]

Sometime after Breakup (ice on rivers breaking and flowing downstream while starting to melt, dirt roads transformed to mud pits) season is done.

[azurelunatic]

On the other hand, if I'm charging my cell phone while it's on my car dashboard and it overheats and Maps has to switch to dark mode in order to let it cool down, it's Summer. Which is apparently now starting on March 22.

[snippy]

Spring is not a particularly relevant thing to me as I live where it's cold rain basically from October 1 till mid-July. At least, there's a reasonable chance of cold rain most of that time. Although WE HAVE A FREAKING SNOWSTORM predicted for Friday (March 24!), a day on which I have reservations at the zoo because I assumed it would not be snowing!

[andrewducker]

Have you considered moving?

[reverancepavane]

Personally I use the equinox since I use the solar calendar (which is a fixed astronomical calendar that does not take into account the precession of the equinoxes, since I doubt I will live long enough for this to matter).

Professionally I tend to use the meteorological calendar, where it is considered by the 1780 convention to start May 1/September 1.

[doubtingmichael]

I put in the equinox, but in my intuitive head, I don't think the seasons have to have the same length or start at the same time each year. I know spring when I see it, and it's when March stops coming in like a lion and starts going out like a lamb. Mild temperatures, flowers, more sunshine. I don't feel as if spring has started yet this year!

And Glorantha had five seasons, separating out "cold and snow" season from "driving rain and winds" season that came after it. I think there's something to be said for that.

[myka]

Imbolc, beginning of Feb

[andrewducker]

In the coldest bit of the year?