As I do every morning, I wake up, have my breakfast, and head out the door for a much needed walk.
The past few weeks I have not looked forward to these walks with the oppressive heat and humidity.
To my delight, I stepped out the door and felt a cool breeze, a mix of sun and clouds, and temperatures in the 60’s.
The combination of these weather features triggered the feeling of fall to my senses.
This got me thinking about the summer months coming to an end and the fall season beginning.
Is it really that time of year already?
I received an email today from a viewer asking if we are going to have an early fall this year. The email also detailed what this viewer associates with fall like little league playoffs taking place. Just taking a quick glance at the calendar startled me. September is a little over a week away, the kids are getting ready to go back to school, and the end of my seven day forecast is showing low 70’s for day time highs! Ah ha, fall is here, right? Not exactly.
You have to ask yourself what is fall? Is it the colorful landscape of trees slowly losing their leaves? Maybe it’s the start of the apple picking season and fresh apple cider. Heck it might even be the premature Halloween displays the stores are setting up as we speak! But speaking from a meteorologist’s point of view, it’s technically none of those. The start of fall is around September 22nd which is the autumnal equinox.
The autumnal equinox is one of two equinoxes we experience every year. An equinox is when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is neither inclined towards nor away from the sun. Ok English now, on the equinox days the Earth is positioned perfectly vertical with no tilt which gives roughly equal hours of day and night. Every day after the autumnal equinox, we continue to see our nights lengthen, and our days shorten, all the way through the winter solstice in late December. With the tilt away from the sun and short days after this autumnal equinox, that cold and bitter weather we endure each year is inevitable.
Now even though the official start of fall this year September 22nd, that doesn’t mean people don’t start feeling the season of fall well before that. To most people, fall starts whenever they feel it starts. If you grew up picking apples and drinking apple cider, you may see fall starting in a few weeks. If you call fall the start of the school year, then get ready for fall to start in a week! If fall is trick-or-treaters knocking on your door then you have a ways to go before fall starts for you.
So is fall coming early this year? Well I guess that is really up to you to decide. Is the autumnal equinox coming early? Nope, it will come around the same time in late September every year. Whenever fall arrives I welcome the comfortable temperatures, beautiful landscapes, and my favorite freshly made apple cider! That's all for now. Remember to keep an eye to the sky and in any situation the sky is the limit!
