Spring came early this year

I just walked outside and it is somewhere north of 70 degrees in Boston.  But that is not what I meant.  I meant it really did come early this year.  On March 20th, to be exact, and actually on the 19th for certain time zones.  The equinox happens when the Sun's path across the sky crosses the equator.  The vernal equinox is today, signalling the start of Spring.  In fact, this is the earliest the Sun has crossed the equator since 1896.  If you are like me, you automatically think of March 21st as the day heralding in Spring.  However, in the past hundred years, the vernal equinox has only fallen on March 21st a grand total of 36 times.  So just how long are the seasons this year?  This long:

Winter: 88.994 days
Spring: 92.758 days
Summer: 93.651 days
Autumn: 89.842 days

So for all of us north of the equator keeping track, we are getting 7.573 more days of the warm seasons than we have to endure of the cold seasons.  Happy Spring.