Today, Tuesday, March 20th represents the vernal equinox, or spring equinox. It is one of two points during the year when the length of day and night is essentially the same and it signals the official start of spring, and this year, it’s the earliest start since 1896. Living in Colorado, this is a welcome change of events. After a long, cold and snowy winter, at this point in the year, not only am I ready for spring, I’m ready for summer and the resumption of all the outdoor activities that keep me sane in warmer temperatures.
There are many people in the world though who live in climates where the changing of the seasons means relatively little. Spring is the same as fall and in some places, there’s hardly a difference between summer and winter. If you’re content living in a season-less climate great, but as much as I long for winter to be over, there’s another point in the year where I welcome its arrival. The changing of the seasons keeps things interesting, and reminds us we live on an incredible plant where at one point in time, temperatures can soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and six months later, they struggle to remain above freezing.
As much as I sit and daydream about being somewhere else, in another country on the other side of the planet, I’m truly privileged to live in a place like Colorado, where I can ski on snow and water in the same month. The changing of the seasons in Colorado brings about a rapid and spectacular transformation in the landscape and is one of the reasons why Colorful Colorado is prominently displayed on the welcome signs. When I realized today was the first day of spring, I was excited about how green things will soon become, but it also reminded me of a more prominent visual indicator of the changing seasons, so on this first day of spring, enjoy a few photos I took in the aspen groves near Kenosha Pass during one of the first days of fall.
