Spring equinox 2027

129 nights to go

Saturday 20 March 2027 · In the daytime

The Moon that night: 98% lit. If the sky is clear.

The spring equinox is Saturday 20 March 2027, at 2:24 pm Mountain Time. Day and night are close to the same length everywhere on Earth, and from now until June the days in the Northern Hemisphere are longer than the nights.

In March, day and night are about the same length. After that, the days keep getting longer. Spring is here.

The equinox is the moment the Sun crosses the equator in our sky. Earth's tilt is sideways to the Sun, so neither half leans toward it, and day and night are nearly equal everywhere. Spring starts in the north and autumn in the south.

The days aren't exactly twelve hours on the equinox: the Sun's disc is half a degree wide and the air bends its light, so sunrise comes a few minutes early and sunset a few minutes late. The day of truly equal day and night comes a few days before.

Earth seen from space, half in sunlight, with the Americas visible. — Earth on the December solstice of 2011, from the GOES-13 weather satellite, with the north half leaning away from the Sun. Photo: NASA/NOAA GOES Project (NASA Image and Video Library, public domain).

Where to look

Watch where the Sun sets: on the equinox it sets almost due west.

What to do

Mark where the Sun sets from a window on the equinox.
Compare it with the mark you made at the December solstice: it has moved north.
Count how long after school it stays light, and keep counting until June.

More sky events

“If it's cloudy, don't worry. The planets will still be there tomorrow night.”