Spring is finally here. Today marks the Spring Equinox – which means our days will start to become longer and brighter.

For those who are curious, here are five facts on the Spring Equinox:

1. What is the Vernal (Spring) Equinox? It’s when the sun is directly over the equator. It means the latitude above and below the equator is receiving the same amount of sunlight as its counterpart on the other side of the globe.
2. The spring Equinox always falls on March 19, 20, or 21. For next year, the Spring Equinox will fall on March 21^st.
3. It marks the first day of spring. Generally astronomers and scientists use the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere as the start of spring.  But for meteorologists, spring begins on the first day of March.
4. It happens at the same time around the globe. Today at 6:29 am EDT the sun crossed the equator and its axis was tilted neither toward nor away from the sun.
5. "Equinox" means "equal night" in Latin. But on the equinox, day is still several minutes longer than night. So it’s equal-ish.