Spring officially arrives bright and early tomorrow

Can you feel that?

Every day now, the earth is tilting a little closer to the sun as spring arrives, the days grow lighter and longer and the weather warms.

Astronomically speaking, spring blossoms in Kamloops and the Shuswap tomorrow at 2:38 am.

That's when the sun crosses the equator heading north, creating what's called the spring equinox or the vernal equinox.

To really geek out about this, equinox is Latin for 'equal night' and marks the first day of spring when day and night are of equal length.

Whether or not you understand this, or care to understand this, what it means is spring is here.

That's something we can all get on board with.

After all, who doesn't like brighter, lengthier days and milder temperatures?

Spring marks rebirth all around, buoys people's spirits and fosters optimism.

"Spring is one of my favourite seasons!" exuded NowMedia Group meteorologist Wesla English.

"I always think of the (March and) April showers and the May flowers."

While the precise time of astronomical spring varies and typically pops March 20 or 21, meteorological spring is consistently March 1.

"I think both are equally important," said English.

"Meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle and astronomical seasons are based on the position of Earth in relation to the sun. The sun is one of the many reasons why we have seasons, so we can't ignore equinoxes and solstices. However, the annual temperature cycles are key to compiling weather statistics."

Speaking of statistics, Kamloops and Shuswap weather this weekend will be a mix of sun and cloud with a chance of showers with daytime highs of 14C Saturday and 8C Sunday and overnight lows 0C to 2C.

Spring is always somewhat unpredictable, so have both sunglasses and umbrella at the ready.

Happy spring.