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Yippee! Spring is officially here!

Technically, the start of spring is just a date on the calendar and a time on the clock.

But, everyone's favourite season (I'm making assumptions here) is also a feeling, a lightening of spirit, an elevated state of being and reason for optimism.

After a long winter, spring is a welcome visitor, a long-awaited breath of fresh air.

Spring kind of snuck up on us this year.

Usually winter morphs into spring on March 21.

But through the quirks of astronomy, the earth tilting a little closer to the sun and the sun crossing the equator heading north in what's called spring equinox or vernal equinox, spring made its appearance today at 2:24 pm.

</who>Tulips in Victoria are a sure sign of spring.

Equinox in Latin means 'equal night,' so today's equinox means there should be an equal amount of night and day.

However, in Victoria sunrise was this morning at 7:16 am and sunset will be 7:26 pm, so through another anomaly of astronomy we'll actually get 12 hours and 10 minutes of daylight.

Whether you care about this science or not, it means spring is here and the days are longer, brighter and warmer.

Since Victoria has the mildest climate in Canada -- it's classified as sub-Mediterranean-type, in fact -- it's felt like spring for a while in the city.

The tulips are up and the blossoms are out -- something most other Canadian cities will have to wait weeks for.

</who>Also a sure sign of spring is more chirping birds.

"Yes, it's spring equinox today," said Environment Canada meteorologist Derek Lee.

"But for the purposes of collecting weather data, we consider meteorological spring to be the three months March 1 to May 31."

As such, depending on how you want to measure it, we've already had 20 days of spring.

Regardless, the spring weather forecast for Victoria looks pretty good.

Typical daytime high temperatures for this month are 11C with overnight lows of 4C.

Next month expect average highs of 13C and lows of 6C and in May highs of 15C and lows of 8C.

</who>Victoria is famous for its spring blossoms.

The April-showers-bring-May-flowers mantra, doesn't hold true in Victoria.

The wettest spring month in the city is March with an 102 mm of rain compared to 78 mm in April and 47 mm in May.

Victoria must need that rain early to pop an early spring.

Spring weather can be all over the place, so depending on the day you may or may not need a jacket, sunglasses and-or an umbrella.

Happy spring!



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