March 2024: Equinox, Oscars and the Biggest Election
March 2024 ran 31 days, opened on a Friday and closed on a Sunday, with ten weekend days for the trouble. Five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays filled the grid. On Saturday, March 16, India's Election Commission scheduled the largest election the world has arranged. The rolls held about 968 million eligible voters, set to vote in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with counting on June 4. The month also turned the season, with the equinox arriving on Wednesday, March 20.
The shape of 31 days
March 2024 opened on Friday, March 1 and closed on Sunday, March 31, spanning weeks 9 to 13. It held five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays, with four each of Monday through Thursday. Count it up and you get 21 business days and ten weekend days, the most a 31-day month can hold.
The moon ran last quarter on March 3, new on March 10, first quarter on March 17 and full on March 25. Five Fridays and five Saturdays in one month is the calendar being generous with the edges.
Equinox and a dimmed moon
The equinox arrived on Wednesday, March 20, opening astronomical spring in the north and autumn in the south. Day and night split close to even, and the season tipped over.
On Monday, March 25, the full Worm Moon crossed Earth's outer shadow in a penumbral lunar eclipse: a subtle dimming rather than a bite. Maximum came at 07:12 UTC, with the view across the Americas. It was the quiet rehearsal for the total solar eclipse of Monday, April 8.
Oscars, rockets and Seoul
Oppenheimer took seven Oscars on March 10, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. Christopher Nolan won Best Director, and Emma Stone took Best Actress for Poor Things. The month had opened at the multiplex: Dune: Part Two took $82.5 million across the United States and Canada on its first weekend. It was the year's biggest debut to that point.
Baseball moved east. On March 20 and 21, MLB played its first regular-season games in Korea, at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome. Shohei Ohtani's Dodgers won 5-2, and the Padres answered 15-11 the next day.
SpaceX's Starship flew for a third time on March 14 and reached orbital velocity for the first time. It cruised most of the way around Earth before breaking up during reentry over the Indian Ocean. Beyonce closed the month on March 29 with Cowboy Carter, 27 tracks that debuted at number one. She became the first Black woman to top Billboard's country albums chart.
Cocoa futures broke $10,000 a metric ton for the first time. The candy aisle felt it later.
The month's hard news
March 2024 also carried grief. On March 26, the container ship Dali lost power and struck Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed into the Patapsco River and killed six road workers. The port closed, and the channel stayed blocked for weeks.
March 2024 closed on Sunday, March 31 with spring underway and the world's largest election penciled in. Voting would run from April 19 to June 1.