SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Siouxland is starting to see more daylight, and we gain daylight the fastest throughout the month of March than we do with any other month of the year. Every day in March, we gain a total of around two minutes and fifty-three seconds of daylight.

Sunrise times through the month of March 2023

The sunrises are what we gain the least amount of daylight. In fact, from March 1 to March 31, we actually lost 8 minutes of daylight. Why? We lost 8 minutes because of Daylight Saving Time on March 12. We start with a sunrise of 7:01 a.m. on March 1, where we gain about a minute and a half each day. Sioux City will have a sunrise of 6:44 a.m. on March 11 but with the spring forward that night, we will have a sunrise of 7:42 a.m. on March 12. We continue to go back toward 7 a.m. throughout the rest of March with sunrises before 7:30 a.m. by March 20, and back to 7:09 a.m. on Friday, March 31.

Sunset Times throughout the month of March 2023

Sunsets gain a lot of time though as those also gain about a minute and a half per day. However, because of Daylight Saving Time on March 12, because we spring forward, we gain an hour of sunlight at night. We start out with a sunset of 6:15 p.m. on March 1 and gain about a minute and a half per day. On March 12 though, we spring ahead to 7:28 p.m. On Saint Patrick’s Day, where we have 12 hours of daylight, meaning that we have approximately the same amount of darkness as we do with light. By the last Sunday in March, we reach a sunset of 7:45 p.m., with a sunset of 7:50 p.m. to end the month of March.

Wednesday, March 1st is also the beginning of the Meteorological Spring, whereas on Monday, March 20 at 4:24 pm.. C.D.T. is the beginning of Astronomical Spring. What is the difference between the two? Meteorological Spring always starts on March 1st as it is based on the annual temperature cycle and the Gregorian Calendar. This way also makes it easier to keep weather records. However, Astronomical Spring is based on the position of the Earth in relation to the sun, used by solstices and equinoxes.

We also have a waxing moon right now, where on February 27, we just passed the first quarter phase of the moon. That means we are approaching the Full Moon, which will occur at 6:40 a.m. on Tuesday, March 7. In the month of March, this moon is called the Worm Moon. We then start to see the moon waning with a third quarter (also known as a last quarter moon) occurring at 9:08 pm.. on Tuesday, March 14. We see the moon waning until we get to a New Moon, which occurs at 12:23 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21. After that, the moon starts waxing again, with the next first quarter moon occurring at 9:32 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28.