It’s the start of March and it’s natural at this time of year to be keen to see the back of cold, dark, winter days and look forward to spring. The days are already feeling longer, with sunset after 6pm in some parts of the UK.
Indeed, at the end of this month the clocks will go forward an hour and it will truly feel like brighter, warmer, days are here. But when does spring actually start?
Well, by one definition, it starts today, March 1. That’s if you follow the meteorological seasons.
This is perhaps the simple ways of looking at the seasons, as the Met Office explains. It is based on the annual temperature cycle and measure the meteorological state, as well as coinciding with the calendar to determine a clear transition between the seasons.
The Met Office says: “The meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.
“By the meteorological calendar, spring will always start on March 1; ending on May 31. The seasons are defined as spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February).”
However, there is also another way of deciding the seasons – astronomical seasons. These refer to the position of Earth’s orbit in relation to the Sun, considering equinoxes and solstices.
The Met Office says: “This is due to the 23.5 degrees of tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis concerning its orbit around the Sun. Since the seasons vary in length, the start date of a new season can fall on different days each year.”
Looking back over the past few years, in 2022 spring ran from March 20 to June 21. In 2023 it was the same. Last year, 2024, it started on March 20, but ended on June 20.
In 2025, astronomical spring begins on Thursday, March 20, and ends on Saturday, June 21.