Spring officially begins at a very specific moment: Friday, March 20, 2026, at 10:46 a.m. Eastern time. That moment is called the equinox, and it’s like a “sky button” that tells the season to start.
Here’s the cool space part. Imagine Earth has an invisible hula-hoop around its middle called the equator. During the equinox, the Sun lines up over that middle line, as if it’s balancing right across Earth’s center.
People often say “equinox” means “equal” because day and night are close to the same length around the planet at this time. It isn’t perfectly equal everywhere, but it’s pretty close—like a seesaw that’s almost level.
You might notice the date can change a little between March 19 and March 21. That’s because our calendar uses leap years to help match Earth’s trip around the Sun so the seasons don’t slowly slide away over time.
Here’s the cool space part. Imagine Earth has an invisible hula-hoop around its middle called the equator. During the equinox, the Sun lines up over that middle line, as if it’s balancing right across Earth’s center.
People often say “equinox” means “equal” because day and night are close to the same length around the planet at this time. It isn’t perfectly equal everywhere, but it’s pretty close—like a seesaw that’s almost level.
You might notice the date can change a little between March 19 and March 21. That’s because our calendar uses leap years to help match Earth’s trip around the Sun so the seasons don’t slowly slide away over time.