Spring Has Sprung

While I know that here in DBQ the weather has been Springlike for a long time, the Vernal Equinox (aka the start of Spring) is at 12:14 am CDT. This is the earliest Spring has arrived since 1896. & it would have arrivrd even earlier if it wasn't for the change of when DST started in the USA. It would have started yesterday, 19 March, like it did in Western parts of the USA, including Alaska & Hawaii, Canada & Mexico. 
We can put the blame for this early arrival of Spring to 2 things. This is a leap year which adds a day, thus moving things up afterwords. Additionally, unlike most years divisible by 100, 2000 was a leap year as well.
Equinox is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). In other words this is one of 2 days when day equals night.  Meanwhile, despite the fact that today (yesterday) was the equinox, the actual day that day equalled night was the 16th of March in DBQ & on the 16th or 17th for most places. (In the Fall it usually occurs on my birthday.)
& if that isn't confusing enough, for the USA the 1st day of Spring is normally not the 21st of March. The last time that happenned was 1980. & it won't happen again until 2103.
OK now that I have you all confused, relax. God is in charge & He will see that Spring gets here each year when He wants it to. He is the one who set everything in motion. There is nothing we can do to change that. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is here & that is all that matters, so let us sit back & listen as the Voices of Spring sing their song:



Here are those Frühlingsstimmen as Johann Strauss II heard them in 1882 with the lyrics by Richard Genée:



Source: Spring Arrives With Equinox Tuesday, Earliest in Over a Century