WEST MICHIGAN (March 19, 2014) — We’ve been waiting for it for quite a long time, especially after the historic winter season we endured this year! Spring officially arrives across the northern hemisphere at 12:57 P.M. on Thursday. That’s the time when the sun is exactly overhead of the equator. It signals the start of the Spring season in the northern hemisphere and the start of the Fall season in the southern hemisphere.
It’s also known as the Vernal Equinox. There are basically equal days and equal nights across the globe (as even distributed as it ever gets) about 12 hours of each. Since the sun will now be climbing north of the equator for us, we’ll see daylight increase more and more each day.
It’s also worth noting that significant accumulating snowfall and systems become less likely as we head further out of winter. That doesn’t mean we can’t see several inches of accumulating snow with the right set up, but it becomes less likely with the higher sun angle, more intense solar insolation (heat/energy), and warming ground. That said, we’ll see a brush with some unseasonably cold air this weekend and may even experience some lake-effect clouds and light snow showers from time to time.
The attached photo was snapped over Muskegon Lake and Snug Harbor by FOX 17 viewer Bill Beatty.
Normal/average highs have us in the mid 40s for temperatures, but we’ll be running about 15 degrees cooler than that as we head in to next week. Get the complete West Michigan forecast at www.fox17online.com/weather.
