Bay Area Sees Showers on First Day of Spring

By Bay City News Service

Bay Area skies are a dismal shade of gray on the first day of spring, but weather forecasters are assuring residents that sunshine is on the way.

Spring arrived with the vernal equinox this morning, Wednesday, at 4:02 a.m., marking a day with equal daylight and nighttime.

The spring equinox occurs when the sun is directly overhead at the equator, said astronomer Ben Burress at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.

In the Bay Area, the sun rose at 7:14 a.m. and will set about 12 hours later at 7:20 p.m., Burress said.

"(Residents) may not notice a change between today and tomorrow," Burress said, but "today marks the point where we are certainly out of the long nights of winter."

The first day of spring is bringing cool showers to the region, National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. However, the next week will be dry and a sunny, and warm weekend is on tap, Anderson said.

The forecaster called the showers "fairly typical spring weather."

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