Spring trivia: 80 facts about the season that everything blooms!

Spring is one of the better seasons. You can go for walks in the nature and everything around you will be beautiful. Flowers, trees, everything!

But there are some things that you don’t know about this season! Let’s find them out together!

Spring is one of the four temperate seasons
Spring always follows winter and precedes summer
There are various technical definitions of spring
But local usage of the term varies according to local climate, cultures and customs
When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere
And vice versa
At the spring equinox, days and nights are approximately twelve hours long
With day length increasing
And night length decreasing as the season progresses
Spring and “springtime” refer to the season
And also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth
Subtropical and tropical areas have climates better described in terms of other seasons
Cultures may have local names for seasons which have little equivalence to the terms originating in Europe
Meteorologists generally define four seasons in many climatic areas: spring, summer, autumn and winter
These are demarcated by the values of their average temperatures on a monthly basis
With each season lasting three months
The three warmest months are by definition summer
The three coldest months are winter
And the intervening gaps are spring and autumn
Spring, when defined in this manner, can start on different dates in different regions
Thus, in the US and UK, spring months are March, April and May
While in New Zealand and Australia, spring conventionally begins on September 1 and ends November 30
Swedish meteorologists define the beginning of spring as the first occasion on which the average daytime temperature exceeds zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days
Thus the date varies with latitude and elevation
In some cultures in the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomical vernal equinox is taken to mark the first day of spring
And the summer solstice is taken as the first day of summer
In Persian culture the first day of spring is the first day of the first month
It is called Farvardin
And it begins on 20 or 21 March
In other traditions, the equinox is taken as mid-spring
In the traditional Chinese calendar, the “spring” season consists of the days between Lichun, Chunfen as its midpoint
Then ending at Lixia
Similarly, according to the Celtic tradition, spring begins in early February
And continues until early May
The beginning of spring is not always determined by fixed calendar dates
The phenological or ecological definition of spring relates to biological indicators
Such as the blossoming of a range of plant species
The activities of animals
And the special smell of soil that has reached the temperature for micro flora to flourish
These indicators, along with the beginning of spring, vary according to the local climate
And according to the specific weather of a particular year
Most ecologists divide the year into six seasons that have no fixed dates
In addition to spring, ecological reckoning identifies an earlier separate prevernal season
Between the hibernal, winter, and vernal, spring, seasons
This is a time when only the hardiest flowers like the crocus are in bloom
Sometimes while there is still some snowcover on the ground
During early spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt relative to the Sun
And the length of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere
The hemisphere begins to warm significantly
Causing new plant growth to “spring forth”
Giving the season its name
The snow begins to melt, swelling streams with runoff and any frosts become less severe
In climates that have no snow, and rare frosts, air and ground temperatures increase more rapidly
Many flowering plants bloom at this time of year, in a long succession, sometimes beginning when snow is still on the ground and continuing into early summer
In normally snowless areas, “spring” may begin as early as February or August
Heralded by the blooming of deciduous magnolias, cherries, and quince
Many temperate areas have a dry spring, and wet autumn, which brings about flowering in this season, more consistent with the need for water, as well as warmth
Subarctic areas may not experience “spring” at all until May
While spring is a result of the warmth caused by the changing orientation of the Earth’s axis relative to the Sun, the weather in many parts of the world is affected by other, less predictable events
The rainfall in spring follows trends more related to longer cycles
Unstable spring weather may occur more often when warm air begins to invade from lower latitudes
While cold air is still pushing from the Polar regions
Flooding is also most common in and near mountainous areas during this time of year
Because of snow-melt which is accelerated by warm rains
In North America, Tornado Alley is most active at this time of year
Especially since the Rocky Mountains prevent the surging hot and cold air masses from spreading eastward
And instead force them into direct conflict
Besides tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms can also produce dangerously large hail and very high winds
For which a severe thunderstorm warning or tornado warning is usually issued
Even more so than in winter, the jet streams play an important role in unstable and severe Northern Hemisphere weather in springtime
In recent decades, season creep has been observed
This means that many phenological signs of spring are occurring earlier in many regions by around two days per decade
Spring in the Southern Hemisphere is different in several significant ways to that of the Northern Hemisphere
There is no land bridge between Southern Hemisphere countries
And the Antarctic zone capable of bringing in cold air without the temperature- mitigating effects of extensive tracts of water
The vastly greater amount of ocean in the Southern Hemisphere at most latitudes
At this time in Earth’s geologic history the Earth has an orbit which brings it in closer to the Southern Hemisphere for its warmer seasons
There is a circumpolar flow of air uninterrupted by large land masses
No equivalent jet streams
The peculiarities of the reversing ocean currents in the Pacific