ROANOKE, Va. – The astronomical start to Fall occurs next Monday! The sun will be perfectly aligned with the equator at 2:19pm in the afternoon.
This will provide near equal times of day and night for locations near the equator.
Why do we see different seasons? The answer has to do with the tilt of the Earth and its relative location to the sun.
The Earth is tilted 23.5° on its axis.
As the Earth rotates around the sun, different hemispheres (northern and southern) receive more and less amounts of daylight. This causes hotter and colder periods of the year (seasons).
During both the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox, there are nearly equal amounts of daylight and nighttime across the globe. Whereas, during the Winter and Summer Solstice, each hemisphere experiences either the shortest or longest amount of daylight for the year.
As we transition to the Fall months, there are some notable Holidays you are probably thinking about.
Halloween is 45 days away and Thanksgiving is just over 2 months away!
And soon enough, we will begin to see Fall foliage taking place. You can learn more about the timing of Fall foliage here!
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