March calendar
A March calendar is the grid for the third month of the year. March has 31 days. In the northern hemisphere it is early spring; in the southern hemisphere it is early autumn. March 1 lands on a different weekday from year to year.
How it works
March is month 3. It follows February, the only month whose length changes, and precedes April, which has 30 days. In a common year February has 28 days. In a leap year it has 29. That single extra day is why March can start one weekday later after a leap February than it would after a 28-day February. March itself still has 31 days either way.
The March grid is otherwise ordinary: seven-day weeks, dates 1 through 31, a leftover of days that are not a full fifth week. Sunday-start and Monday-start calendars show the same dates in different columns. If you need ISO-style weeks, use a calendar that numbers weeks and starts the week on Monday. A U.S. wall calendar that starts on Sunday will not match those week numbers even when the dates are correct.
The March equinox, which marks the start of astronomical spring in the north and autumn in the south, falls in March, usually on the 19th, 20th, or 21st depending on the year. The calendar month is not the same thing as the astronomical season. March 1 is still March 1 if the equinox is three weeks away.
February’s shadow on the March grid
If you build calendars by hand, March is where February’s length shows up. Count 28 days from March 1 backward in a common year and you land in early February. Count 29 in a leap year and the alignment changes. Software calendars already know this. Paper planners that reprint a generic February with 29 squares can still be wrong if you circle the 29th in a common year. Check the year before you write on the 29th, then copy March from a source for that year.
Confirm whether the year is a leap year. Place February 28, and February 29 only if the year has it. Let March 1 be the next day after February ends. Fill 31 days, then start April on the next weekday.
Daylight saving time, where it is used, often starts in March in parts of the northern hemisphere. That change does not add a date to the March calendar. It changes local clock time on a Sunday morning. Appointments on that night and the next morning need the clock rule, not an extra square.
What to mark in March
Use the grid to see weekdays, not to guess the weather. Early March and late March can feel like different seasons in the same place, and the calendar will not warn you. For school terms, fiscal quarters, and sport seasons, March is often a boundary month. Mark the boundary that applies to you on the date it actually falls, not on “sometime in March.”
Quarter start: April is the next month if you use calendar quarters; March closes the first quarter on the 31st. Equinox: look up the date for that year instead of writing the same number every March.
Clock change: if your region changes clocks in March, mark that Sunday. March is where people write “spring” on the calendar and then still need a coat. Because April has 30 days, a habit formed in March — “there is a 31st” — will fail next month. Finish March on the 31st, then remember that April does not owe you that extra date.
Questions and answers
- How many days does March have?
- March has 31 days every year. Leap years do not add a day to March.
- Why does March start on a different weekday after a leap year?
- February 29 inserts an extra day before March 1, which shifts every later date’s weekday for the rest of that year.
- Is the first day of spring always March 1?
- No. March 1 is the first day of the month. Meteorological spring in the north is often counted from March 1, but the equinox is a separate date in March that moves slightly by year.
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