News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Archive of posts on the start of seasons
Standard time starts and daylight saving ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 2. This is the time of the year when clocks are turned back one hour.
Additionally, everyone is encouraged to check and/or change the batteries on smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
The 2014 autumnal equinox is right now 10:29 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.
Fall officially starts 10:29 tonight, which means that the Pennsylvania’s forests will be soon alight with colors. The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has several resources to maximize your outdoor activity during the fall season, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
A fall foliage report to track the changing leaves in Pennsylvania can be found here.
There is also this website with a full list of fall festivals throughout the state.
Residents are encouraged to take advantage of Pennsylvania’s abundant natural beauty. For still more information, visit visitpa.com.
The harvest moon is the the full moon closest to the fall equinox. Tonight — well tomorrow morning, really as it isn’t scheduled to be full until 1:38 a.m. — is the harvest moon.
Here’s some music for the event.
Summer 2014 starts at 6:51 a.m. EDT, June 21, which is right now if our internet service provider’s clock is accurate.
This means that tilt of Earth’s semi-axis is most inclined to the sun in the Northern Hemisphere which is a solstice.
The axis will in a few moments slowly start reversing itself until it is the Southern Hemisphere that is most inclined to the sun.
The would be the start of our winter (and Australia’s summer).
Today is the longest day of the year. Don’t expect the real heat to start happening for several more weeks, however. It takes a while for the ground to absorb all that solar energy and it is the ground that really makes things hot.
In Europe summer was traditionally considered to start May 1 which is why today is often referred to as “Midsummer.”
This reckoning is still used in Ireland.
Some music to start the season:
Spring 2014 Starts Now — It is 12:57 EDT, March 20, which means the vernal equinox is now which means Spring has started.
The word equinox is Latin words for “equal night.” Days and nights are approximately equal everywhere and the Sun rises and sets due east and west, explains The Old Farmers Almanac. At the equinoxes, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun.
It’s time to spring forward.
At 2 a.m., tomorrow, March 9, Daylight Saving Time starts so move the timepieces ahead an hour if they are not already programmed to do so.
It ends Nov. 2.
Of course, as spring does not start until 12:57 p.m., March 20, the nights remain longer than days regardless of what government dictates.
Daylight saving time, which began in March, will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3. In other words, tomorrow.
This is the time of the year when clocks are turned back one hour at 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. This marks the resumption of Eastern Standard Time until March 2014. The recommendation is to turn clocks back prior to going to bed tonight
Additionally, it is recommended that batteries on smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors be changed, or at least checked, at this time.
It is 4:44 p.m. EDT, Sept. 22 according to our post scheduler and, just as it was back on March 20, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is neither away from or towards the Sun.
In other words, autumn has begun.
“Autumn” comes from the Old French word automne which comes from the Latin word autumnus which possibly comes a Etruscan word.
Before autumn came into popular use in the 16th century to describe the season– as did the word fall as in falling leaves — the English called it Harvest.
When fall was a popular term, immigration to America was picking up and that word was brought to this side of the Atlantic. It became the more common name for this time of year remains so. The term is now obsolete in Britain, however.
The Brits, by the way, consider autumn to be from August to October whereas we consider it from September to November — or December for those of us who are technical minded.
Summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere right now, 1:04 a.m., EDT, June 21, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.