Daylight increases 1 hour, 25 minutes during the month, that’s almost 3 minutes each day.  The vernal equinox occurs at 5:45 p.m. CDT when the sun’s rays are most redirect at the equator.  After this date and until late September, the sunlight is most directed toward the northern hemisphere.  At the equinox, the length of day and night are equal.  Coincidentally, early on equinox morning, a total solar eclipse is visible across the North Atlantic.  Partial solar eclipses are seen across Europe, North Africa, and western Asia.

Daylight Saving Time begins across significant geographic regions of North America in the early morning hours of March 8.  At this time clocks are advanced one hour.  As our chart indicates above, there’s not much daylight to save and shift into the evening hours.  When the clocks are “sprung forward,” there’s only 11 hours, 35 minutes of daylight  in the Chicago area and at the same latitude.

The Moon

 

 

Phase	Date/Time	Moonrise	Moonset
Full Moon	03/05/15 (12:05 p.m. CST)	5:59 p.m. CST	6:34 a.m. CST (03/06)
Last Quarter	03/13/15 (12:48 p.m.)	1:41 a.m.	11:45 a.m.
New Moon	03/20/15 (4:36 a.m.)	6:59 a.m.	7:43 p.m.
First Quarter	03/27/15 (2:43 a.m.)	12:43 p.m.	2:50 a.m. (03/28)
Times are Central Daylight Time (except as noted) for Chicago, Illinois, from US Naval Observatory calculations. (For mjb)