Today’s Spring Equinox may mean nothing to the untrained eye, but the more observant population may have noticed the changing behaviours of the Sun in its lead up.

An equinox, occurring only twice in one year, marks the date that days in Spring start to become longer than nights, and again in Autumn, when nights return to being longer than days.

Today’s Spring Equinox (September 23) marks the beginning of days stretching out into bright summery evenings, of rapidly melting icy-poles, trips to local pools and the late sunsets that accompany them.

Perhaps this makes it one of the most underrated dates in the calendar.

 *Earth has seasons because its axis is tilted. Earth rotates on its axis as it orbits the Sun, but the axis always points in the same direction. Diagram: media.bom.gov.au

In a more technical sense, the equinox, which is Latin for ‘equal night’ occurs at the date and time at which the centre of the Sun is directly over the equator.

When this occurs, days and nights become equal in length in the Southern Hemisphere, lasting for 12 hours each on the days leading up to the equinox. On the Spring Equinox itself, Australia sees about 12 hours and eight minutes of daylight, just 16 minutes longer than the 11 hours and 52 minutes of night-time.

This is because the atmosphere refracts sunlight, allowing us to see the Sun just before it has risen in line with the horizon, and just after it’s passed below the level of the horizon at sunset.

Of course, the Spring Equinox means much more than its scientific reasoning.

Maybe for you it means turning on the air conditioner, ridding it of the dust it collected over the winter, or the first swim of the season wherever you can dip your feet in.

Across the cropping areas of the Western Plains the colour on the horizon morphs from green to gold as crops begin to ripen. Headers are removed from sheds and repairs get underway for the harvest ahead. It’s long days on even longer roads as grain is hauled across the country.

Students can look forward to the call of summery days free from the classroom, spending long hours outside in between applications of sunscreen.

As current lockdown restrictions lighten across the region and spring's kind climate beckons us outdoors we can look forward to Carinda’s David Bowie Tribute Festival, the Coonamble Gold Cup Races, the Lightning Ridge Opal Festival, and Cobar’s Festival of the Miner’s Ghost all scheduled for October.

Today’s Spring Equinox holds a sea of potential for the days to come.

The best thing we can do is enjoy the balmy nights while they last, before March 21 brings the Autumn Equinox, and the scale tips once more.

This story has been assisted by the Bureau of Meteorology. To read more go to their blog on the Reason for the Seasons.