When Is The First Day Of Fall: 5 Facts About Autumn Equinox

Summer-like temperatures may prevail for a few more days or weeks in many parts of the country, but fall — the season of brilliant foliage shows, crisp air and pumpkin-spice everything — officially arrives in the Northern Hemisphere at 4:02 p.m. Eastern Time Friday, Sept. 22 (in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the beginning of spring).

The fall equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator. Here are five things to know about the arrival of fall:

1. You’ve probably heard that everyone worldwide sees equal amounts of daylight and nighttime. Generally, that is true, EarthSky.org explains, but precisely speaking, daylight lasts about 8 minutes longer than nighttime on the day of the equinox.

2. The chance of seeing stunning aurora borealis displays increase after the fall equinox, NASA says. Both the spring and fall equinoxes are good aurora seasons, but autumn produces a surplus of geomagnetic storms — almost twice the annual average.

3. No matter where you are in the world, the sun will rise due east and set due west during the fall equinox (the same thing happens during the spring equinox). For the directionally challenged, it’s a good time for a reset. Go outside around sunset or sunrise, find a landmark and mark the sun’s location in relation to it.

Watch: Six Fall Activities For The Whole Family

See Also

• Fall Foliage 2017: Best Time To See Leaves Change In Your State
• 5 Ways To Celebrate The First Day Of Fall
• 2017 Guide To Meteor Showers, Other Celestial Events

4. You can stand an egg on one end during the fall equinox, but it has nothing to do with the changing of the season. “The Bad Astronomer” Philip Plait compares the egg standing myth to “an extremely contagious virus.” Plait, an American astronomer, skeptic, writer and popular science blogger, says the reason eggs can be balanced on one end most likely has to do with tiny bumps on the shell on the end that “act like little legs holding the egg up.”

5. When days become shorter, animals in high latitudes experience biological changes. One of the weirdest examples is found in the male Siberian hamster, whose testicles swell almost 17 times their normal size, according to Mother Nature Network.

Photo by Beth Dalbey/Patch.com