Fall Equinox Is Here

Fall Equinox (Photo – uucnh.org)

At 5:43 am Pacific Time on Sunday, September 22, 2024, the Earth reached the point in its orbit known as the Autumnal or Fall Equinox.

By Scott Phelps

At this point, neither hemisphere of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun, and the Sun shines directly on Earth’s equator. Every place on Earth gets an equal amount of daylight and nighttime on this day, roughly 12 hours of each, because of the approximately 24 hours it takes the Earth to rotate once on its axis.

For people in the northern hemisphere, it is the first day of Fall.  From now until the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2024, the Earth’s orbital motion will cause the northern hemisphere to be more and more tilted away from the Sun, causing the Sun to be lower and lower in the sky with fewer and fewer daylight hours. Both of these in turn mean less direct sunlight on us and lower temperatures as a result.

Of course, as everyone knows, the change in the sunlight leads to changes in the colors of leaves, which makes the fall foliage so beautiful. I hope everyone, even in Southern California, gets to experience the beauty of Fall.