Cooler weather arrives in time for autumnal equinox
It’s no surprise, but summer has had a hard time letting go across much of the nation. Here in mid-Missouri, the temperature for most of the month has regularly climbed into the upper 80s and lower 90s, several degrees above seasonal values. In addition, heat indices have topped out near 100 degrees, occurring most recently as Thursday.
After what has been a long four months of hot and humid conditions that date back to May, Mother Nature is finally giving a good portion of the country a much-needed break.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to pull out the fall decorations and pumpkin spice everything as a significant cool down is in the forecast that will last through the end of this month. Fall officially starts Saturday at 8:54 p.m., which means even if we see hotter days, cooler weather is most certainly around the corner.
The autumnal equinox occurs each year around Sept. 22 or 23 and is marked by the sun appearing directly over the equator. It’s what has become commonly known as the time of the year when equal day and night encompass most of the globe, with daylight diminishing each day through the winter solstice in December. The equinox/solstice occurs four times each year due to the tilt of the Earth, which give us our seasons. This means that for half of the year, the North Pole is pointed toward the sun with darkness at the South Pole. For the other half of the year, the tilt reverses the daylight and darkness for both of the poles.
The change in seasons not only marks cooler weather, but also the vibrant colors of leaves on the trees before they are completely shed by winter. While it can be difficult to predict the exact time trees can peak due to a variety of variables, leaves are gradually about to change. The drought that mid-Missouri has been under for quite some time will likely have a great impact on leaves this year, but information provided by SmokyMountains.com shows that we can expect to see trees donning different colors by the second week of October, as the nights continue to grow longer and trees slow down chlorophyll production.
With the nights growing longer, this means our seasonal temperatures will rapidly begin to fall, with the average temperature by Oct. 1 already falling into the lower 70s
Information provided by the Climate Prediction Center shows there is a possibility that the crisp, fall-like conditions will continue to spill into a large portion of the nation as we finally embrace fall.
Stay with ABC 17 News as we continue to monitor the cooler conditions and follow us on Twitter @ABC17Stormtrack.
