Spring Equinox, 2022 – Local Noon

Griffith Observatory marks the start of spring in the northern hemisphere with a live online talk (weather permitting) focused on the Sun as it reaches its highest point in the sky at local noon. Observatory staff will discuss the meaning of local noon and show how the Sun’s changing path across the sky causes seasonal changes. Learn more about the seasons here.

Spring begins in Earth’s northern hemisphere at 8:33 a.m. PDT, today. Autumn begins in the southern hemisphere at the same time. The March/vernal equinox is the moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator (the projection of Earth’s equator into space) from south to north.

From the spring equinox until the start of summer – the summer solstice in June – days will get longer, and the noon elevation of the Sun will increase. This happens because the Earth’s axis is tilted 23½ degrees to its orbit. Day and night are of equal length today.