PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN
The equinox, the midway point between mid-winter and mid-summer, when day and night are of about equal length, occurred at 7.50pm.
Otago Museum director and astronomer Dr Ian Griffin said that some astronomers viewed the spring equinox as the first day of spring, but meteorologists preferred September 1.
MetService meteorologist Tamara Vuksa said days were getting longer but spring was changeable, and Dunedin and Otago would experience some rain this week, from noon today, colder conditions tomorrow and isolated rain showers, clearing on Friday.
Not to be forgotten among the changes is the switch to daylight saving time, when clocks go forward by one hour at 2am on Sunday.
