Spring Equinox (First Day of Spring) 2027

Related dates

The equinox is one of four turning points in the astronomical year. The summer solstice in June is the longest day, the autumn equinox in September balances day and night again, and the December solstice is the shortest day. The weeks either side of the spring equinox also bring Mothering Sunday and Easter, both of which move with the church calendar rather than the Sun.

Astronomical or meteorological: which first day of spring is right?

Both are in everyday use, which is why the question keeps coming up. The astronomical calendar follows the Sun. Spring runs from the March equinox to the June solstice, summer from the June solstice to the September equinox, and so on. Because the Earth’s orbit does not divide neatly into whole days, the equinox drifts by about six hours each year and jumps back a day after each leap year, so astronomical spring can begin on 19, 20 or 21 March. In the 2020s it is consistently 20 March in the UK.

The meteorological calendar follows the thermometer. The Met Office explains that it splits the year into four seasons of three whole calendar months, “making it easier to track weather patterns and compare statistics”. Meteorological spring is March, April and May; summer is June to August; autumn is September to November; winter is December to February. By this definition spring begins on 1 March every year without exception.

There is a third, informal answer that both bodies mention: phenological spring, which starts when nature says so, with the first daffodils, nesting birds or frogspawn. The Royal Observatory notes these dates “vary quite dramatically throughout the United Kingdom”, so it is a pleasure rather than a rule.

For a calendar or newsletter, say which you mean. “First day of spring” on its own usually means the equinox, 20 March 2027; “start of spring” in a weather context usually means 1 March.

What happens around the equinox in the UK

The most visible change is light. By the March equinox the UK has gained roughly four hours of daylight since the December solstice, and the days keep lengthening until June. Eight days after the 2027 equinox, on Sunday 28 March, the clocks go forward one hour at 1am and British Summer Time begins, according to gov.uk.

The weather is slower to follow. The Met Office points out that snow or sleet is more likely in March than in December in the UK, and that Scotland warms later than southern England. Spring is also, on average, a calm and dry season, which is why gardeners, walkers and event organisers plan around it.

Groups gather at Stonehenge and other ancient sites for the equinox sunrise, pagan communities celebrate Ostara, and Persian, Kurdish and Afghan families mark Nowruz. On the same date, 20 March, the United Nations observes the International Day of Happiness, so the two are often paired in school and workplace calendars.

How to mark the first day of spring

The equinox needs no budget or permission.

• At home: start the growing year. Sow hardy seeds, or simply note the sunrise and sunset times on 20 March and watch them stretch through April. A spring clean fits the day well. The Great British Spring Clean runs litter-picking events across the country at this time of year.
• In schools: the equinox is a ready-made science lesson on the Earth’s tilt, why we have seasons, and why day and night are nearly equal. A globe and a torch demonstrate it in five minutes; older pupils can compare the two calendars and argue the case for each.
• At work: use the longer evenings to restart walking groups or outdoor lunch breaks, and pair the date with the International Day of Happiness for a wellbeing focus. Communications teams can use it as a hook for “new season” content.
• Outdoors: watch the sunrise. At the equinox the Sun rises almost exactly due east and sets due west, so it is the easiest day of the year to find your bearings.

A short history of marking the equinox

People have tracked the equinox for thousands of years because it signalled the time to sow. Prehistoric monuments in Britain and Ireland, and temples in Egypt and Central America, include alignments to the Sun around the equinoxes and solstices. The Persian new year, Nowruz, is still timed to the March equinox.

In the Christian calendar the equinox fixes Easter. The Western church calculates Easter Sunday as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, the conventional equinox date adopted in the early church, which is why Easter moves between late March and late April. In England, 25 March (Lady Day) was the start of the legal year until the calendar reform of 1752, and the tax year still begins on 6 April because of the days dropped then.

The meteorological seasons are a much newer idea, adopted so that climate records could be compared like for like. The Met Office’s long-term average temperature for a UK spring is 8.08°C for 1991 to 2020, a figure that only makes sense if every spring covers the same three months.