It's been 25 years since I last taught in a classroom, but I still remember the golden rule for determining the date of Easter each year.
Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox.
This year there is a full moon on Monday the 5th, and the first Sunday to follow is April 11th.
For those of you who already knew that...at least give me credit for remembering something besides the smell of wads of bubble gum mixed in with Doritos from my teaching days!!
Determining Easter
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Determining Easter
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I also mentioned it in my Vernal Equinox article in the March newsletter.

The vernal equinox is also a determining factor for when we celebrate Easter. However, the date of March 20 is always used to calculate this. Most Protestant and Roman Catholic churches celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20. So Easter can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25th. This year, we celebrate on April 11.
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- azskyman
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Nice job Duck! And I read that newsletter, too! With Easter coming down the pike in just about 10 days, I posted again for two reasons...
One, it popped into my mind today when looking at the calendar and
Two, it's still one of those wierd things where a religion-based holiday celebration is based on the movement of the sun, the earth, and the moon.
Nice to see you back, Jennifer...
How about this addition. Most sets of weather data for given stations keep track of thunderstorm days, not individual thunderstorms..for obvious reasons. You often can not detect when one thunderstorm heads into someone else's neighborhood and a new one rears its head in yours!
But, thunderstorm days CAN include days when thunder is heard, yet no storm occurs at your station. Using that guideline, it is possible (but not probable) that you could have many more thunderstorm days than you actually have thunderstorms at your weather station location.
In fact, last night in Scottsdale there was a storm nearby with a bolt or two of lightning, a clap of thunder, a few million pounds of desert dust in the sky, but no rain. Chalk it up to a "thunderstorm day" for the year 2004!
Hmmmm...food for thought and plenty of fodder for debate!!!
Still better than bubble gum and Doritos!
One, it popped into my mind today when looking at the calendar and
Two, it's still one of those wierd things where a religion-based holiday celebration is based on the movement of the sun, the earth, and the moon.
Nice to see you back, Jennifer...
How about this addition. Most sets of weather data for given stations keep track of thunderstorm days, not individual thunderstorms..for obvious reasons. You often can not detect when one thunderstorm heads into someone else's neighborhood and a new one rears its head in yours!
But, thunderstorm days CAN include days when thunder is heard, yet no storm occurs at your station. Using that guideline, it is possible (but not probable) that you could have many more thunderstorm days than you actually have thunderstorms at your weather station location.
In fact, last night in Scottsdale there was a storm nearby with a bolt or two of lightning, a clap of thunder, a few million pounds of desert dust in the sky, but no rain. Chalk it up to a "thunderstorm day" for the year 2004!
Hmmmm...food for thought and plenty of fodder for debate!!!
Still better than bubble gum and Doritos!
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- wx247
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Re: Determining Easter
azskyman wrote:It's been 25 years since I last taught in a classroom, but I still remember the golden rule for determining the date of Easter each year.
Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox.
This year there is a full moon on Monday the 5th, and the first Sunday to follow is April 11th.
For those of you who already knew that...at least give me credit for remembering something besides the smell of wads of bubble gum mixed in with Doritos from my teaching days!!
Hey Popsky.... you are a lifesaver!!! I have an assignment due in Physics for Monday asking for an internet source on determining when Easter is.

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The posts in this forum are NOT official forecast and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or storm2k.org. For official information, please refer to the NHC and NWS products.
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Yesirr-eee! Vernal and his sis, Autumnal. They are the only bro and sis in the history of the world to share something, anything equally.
One problem, though. Vern, he learnt to spring. Autumn, now, all she can do is fall.
Up until I learnt that about Easter, I used ta think that Easter was determined by the day there were jelly beans and eggs around the house.
One problem, though. Vern, he learnt to spring. Autumn, now, all she can do is fall.
Up until I learnt that about Easter, I used ta think that Easter was determined by the day there were jelly beans and eggs around the house.
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