When is fall equinox? | firstcoastnews.com

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Fall is just around the corner, with the autumn equinox marking the change of seasons.

Whether your summer felt like 500 days or a few weeks, fall is almost upon us.

The autumn equinox will arrive Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2:50 a.m. Eastern in the Northern Hemisphere.

Although, fall has already technially started for meteorologists. That’s because their season is based on annual temperature cycles, which start on the first of the month (Sept. 1).

Meanwhile, the astronomical season — the one that starts Saturday — is based on Earth’s orbit around the sun.

During the equinox, the sun will shine directly on the equator and bring nearly equal amounts of day and night. It’s even in the name — “equinox” comes from the words for “equal” and “night” in Latin.

But that doesn’t mean we’re actually getting equal day and night though. The Earth’s atmosphere refracts light and causes us to see daylight before the sun is actually above the horizon.

“What’s interesting is because of the way our time zones are set up, and the way we measure sunrise and sunset, in each location, it may not be equal day and equal night on the equinox,” TEGNA meteorologist Brad Panovich said. “Sometimes it falls a couple of days before or a couple of days after.”

When is the first day of fall?

The first day of fall is on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere.

When does winter start in 2023?

Winter starts in the Northern Hemisphere with the winter solstice on Dec. 21. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, while the winter solstice is the shortest.