Autumn 2022 Starts Now — The 2022 autumnal equinox is right now 9:04 p.m., EDT, Sept. 22 according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac as the sun crosses the celestial equator. Fall has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and the days are now shorter than the nights and will continue to be so until the spring equinox.
The celestial equator is a circle concentric with the actual equator that extends infinitely to space. As the Earth has a 23 degree tilt the the northern half tilts towards the Sun during half its orbit and away the other half. The equinoxes occur when tilt switches.
Y’know, at every change in season, the masses and the media all talk about it as if changing seasons is like flipping a light switch. As if it’s snow and 30s right up to the first day of spring, and then the snow melts instantly, flowers blossom immediately, and birds start singing. Like in a Warner Bros. cartoon.
And I always point out, it’s not like flipping a switch. It’s a gradual change each time.
But right now, it really was like flipping a light switch! 80 degrees at noon yesterday, and by 5PM, it was in the 60s. Shorts and a golf shirt to long pants and a sweatshirt in the space of a couple of hours. I might have to turn the heat on.