First Day Of Fall Is Almost Here, Autumnal Equinox On Wednesday
MIAMI (CBS Miami) -- Mark your calendars, South Florida, fall begins on Wednesday, September 22nd.
And although, the leaves will not be falling from our South Florida palm trees nor will the temperatures drop enough to put an end to the summer heat, the autumnal equinox is still happening at 3:21 pm EDT this coming Wednesday, two days after Monday night's full moon also known as the 'Harvest Moon'.
The autumnal equinox officially kicks off the fall season as soon as the sun crosses the celestial equator, which is an imaginary line extending straight out from Earth's equator to the sun.
The sun will cross from north to south of that imaginary line and the day hours will almost equal to night hours. While autumn begins in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere is going into the spring season. This is because of the earth's 23.5-degree tilt on its axis as it orbits the sun.
The sunrise is at 7:09 am and will set at 7:16 pm in Miami on Wednesday.
After the first day of fall, South Florida will wake up to later sunrises and will notice earlier sunsets until the winter solstice happens in December.
South Florida will have to wait for a taste of fall-like weather until later in October or November when low temperatures normally drop into the upper 60s and high temperatures are normally in the low-80s. This sounds warm for most states north of Florida, but as South Floridians, we know that humidity will also drop and that makes a big difference in helping to make the weather conditions feel more fall-like.
Also, a strong cold front that is expected to sweep across the eastern half of the U.S. by later in the week. That cold front will bring a cool punch for north Florida and the eastern half of the nation while bringing the chance for storms in South Florida since it will stall near our area.
Despite this big first fall cool-down for everyone located north of southern Florida, the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above-average temperatures across two-thirds of the nation during the fall season, from October through December.
By the way, 'Fallback' happens on November 7th, that's when we'll have to set the clock back one hour and this will change the timing of the sunrises and sunsets to one hour earlier.