Winter always feels like a particularly long period and the novelty of the chilly dark nights soon starts to wear off by February.
But the days are gradually starting to get lighter and longer, and new buds have begun sprouting in gardens which means that spring is finally on its way.
According to the Met Office, astronomical spring starts this year on Thursday, March 20 and ends on Saturday, June 21. Astronomical seasons refer to the position of the Earth’s orbit in relation to the sun, taking into account equinoxes and solstices, and as the seasons vary in length, the start date typically falls on a different day each year.
But if you base the start of the seasons on the meteorological calendar, which is based on the annual temperature cycle, then spring will always start on March 1 and end on May 31 every year.
The meteorological seasons split spring, summer, autumn and winter into four periods of up to three months each and these coincide with the Gregorian calendar, meaning the date of the new season starting doesn’t vary from year to year.
But whichever seasonal calendar you’re looking at, it still means that spring will arrive next month which means warmer temperatures should soon be on the horizon and of course, with the arrival of the new season it means another clock change is almost upon us.
This year, the clocks will go forward by one hour at 1am on Sunday, March 30, officially marking the beginning of British Summer Time.
Unfortunately, the change means you’ll lose an hour in bed but you can take some comfort in the fact that it marks the start of the warmer seasons, and will mean more daylight in the evenings.
The process of changing the clocks twice a year is designed to bookend the different stages of the year and has been a practice in the UK for more than a century.
It was first introduced and formalised as British Summer Time in the Summer Time Act 1916, with the change giving farmers an extra hour of sunlight during the summer months and providing a helpful boost to the agricultural sector.
The move came following a campaign led by British builder William Willett in 1907 in the hope of stopping people from wasting valuable hours of natural sunlight and to help save energy.
But the clocks changing can cause disruption to your body clock and mood, so experts advise adjusting your bedtime by around 15 to 30 minutes each night leading up to the change to get acclimatised.
