Is this an indication of winter weather to come?Īnswer: There’s an old weather proverb that states, “If autumn leaves are slow to fall, prepare for a cold winter.” Or perhaps you just haven’t had the kind of wind or rain needed to shake the leaves loose from their branches. Question: The autumn leaves seems to be hanging on longer than usual in my neck of the woods. According to our former astronomer, George Greenstein, “If the Sun were to shrink to a starlike point and we lived in a world without air, the spring and fall equinoxes would truly have ‘equal nights.'” Not only that, but the Sun is actually visible when it is below the horizon, as Earth’s atmosphere refracts the Sun’s rays and bends them in an arc over the horizon. Advertisement Autumn has caught us in our summer wear. Read about the signs of fall and the ways we mark the equinox. This date marks the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. But the day begins when the upper edge of the Sun reaches the horizon (which happens a bit before the center rises), and it doesn’t end until the entire Sun has set. Welcome fall The autumnal equinoxalso called the September equinoxarrived on Thursday, September 22. Question: Why aren’t there exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on the fall equinox?Īnswer: On the equinoxes, the very center of the Sun sets just 12 hours after it rises. What’s in store for your winter weather? Buy the newest edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac from our Web site! Around the time of the equinoxes, variations in the position on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets can be noticed from one day to the next by alert observers.įrom here on out, the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights (i.e., hours of daylight decline). In addition to the (approximately) equal hours of daylight and darkness, the equinoxes are times when the Sun’s apparent motion undergoes the most rapid change. This occurs two times each year: Vernal in late March and Autumnal in late September. The word equinox means “equal night” night and day are about the same length of time. It can be thought of as the plane of Earth’s equator projected out onto the sphere.)Īnother definition of fall is nights of below-freezing temperatures combined with days of temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. (The celestial equator is the circle in the celestial sphere halfway between the celestial poles. The autumnal equinox is when the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north to south. Go outside around sunset or sunrise, find a landmark and mark the sun’s location in relation to it.Fall begins on September 23, early in the morning at 4:21 A.M. For the directionally challenged, it’s a good time for a reset. No matter where you are in the world, the sun will rise due east and set due west during the fall equinox (the same thing happens during the spring equinox). That means the reds, oranges, yellows and pinks make it through for your sunset-viewing pleasure.Ĥ. Here’s the reason: A year is defined as 365 days by the Gregorian calendar, but it. 24 since 1931, and that won’t happen again until 2303. 5 Morgan McFall-Johnsen,Shayanne Gal,Marianne Guenot September 22, 2022, 6:17 AM 4 min read A view of. And the first day of fall hasn’t fallen on Sept. The Weather Channel offers an explanation: As dry, clean Canadian air begins to sweep across the country, fewer colors of the rainbow spectrum are scattered by air molecules. Here's how the equinox marks the changing of seasons. Thank Canada for spectacular fall sunsets with more vivid pinks, reds and oranges than at any other time of the year. Related: What The Autumnal Equinox Has To Do With The Harvest Moonģ.What this means is the autumnal equinox occurs about six hours later than it did the year prior, which eventually moves the date by a day. Here’s the reason: A year is defined as 365 days by the Gregorian calendar, but it takes the Earth 365-¼ days to orbit the sun. The fall season ends on the December solstice, when astronomical winter begins. And the first day of fall hasn’t fallen on Sept. 21 autumnal equinox hasn’t occurred in several millennia, but some folks alive today may see it the next couple of times it rolls around, in 2092 and then again four years later in 2096. Usually, it’s on the 22nd, as it is this year, or the 23rd, but it can occur as early as Sept. ![]() ![]() The date of the September equinox varies. The 2019 fall equinoxalso called the autumn equinoxtakes place on Monday, September 23, 2019. The autumnal equinox of 2022, also known as the September equinox or fall equinox, arrives on Thursday, Sept. Related: Aurora Borealis Displays More Likely In Active Solar Storm Season | Aurora Borealis Hunting: What’s A Kp Index, More Northern Lights TipsĢ.
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