The Vernal Equinox will take place this Wednesday, March 20th at 4:02 a.m. PDT.  The Equinox is the day on which both the north and south pole are equal distance to the sun (92.6 million miles).  The sun will stand directly over the Earth's equator, bringing equal hours of darkness and daylight.  The term vernal means green and equinox means equal night.  The coming days will see minutes of daylight begin to out number minutes of darkness as we march toward the summer season.

The above photo is from KGW's Astoria Column camera.  As the minutes of daylight increase, so too should the number of days with sunshine.

KGW Meteorologist Rod Hill