Spring is off to a furious start for several parts of the country after a blizzard dumped over a foot of snow and tornadoes razed through neighborhoods in the Midwest, as the same storm system moves east and is set to drench the East Coast. Tens of millions are waking up to damage in the Midwest Thursday morning, the first official day of spring.

According to NASA, the first day of spring officially begins at 5:01 a.m. EST on March 20. The vernal equinox is an astronomical event when the sun aligns directly above the equator. This results in night and day being equal — about 12 hours each according to British Vogue.

Spring officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20 with the vernal equinox as the entire world experiences an equal amount of daylight and darkness.