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Official start of fall is almost here

Labor Day weekend is often referred to as the unofficial end of summer and beginning of fall, but the official start off fall is still several weeks away.

Posted Updated

By
Kim Deaner

On Monday, most of us will celebrate Labor Day with cookouts and other fun activities.

 

Labor Day weekend is often referred to as the unofficial end of summer and beginning of fall, but the official start off fall is still several weeks away.

This year, autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on Sept. 22 at 5:18 p.m. By the end of September, we will have average highs near 80 and lows in the upper 50s.

This change of season is called fall or autumn. The official name is Autumnal Equinox.

Equinox happens twice a year with one in September, called Autumnal Equinox and one in the spring called the Vernal Equinox. The word Equinox refers to the times of year when nighttime equals daytime –twelve hours each. One fun fact about the Autumnal Equinox is that farmers in the past and maybe even a few in modern times have been known to harvest their crops on the last full moon before autumn. We call this the Harvest Moon. The extra moonlight gives them plenty of light to work.

Last night (Saturday), was this year's Harvest moon.

Long-time residents of central North Carolina know that Mother Nature doesn’t always look at the almanac.

We’ve seen day-time highs in the upper 90s in early October and night lows as cold as upper teens by the end of October.

No matter how it plays out this year, fall is always full of fun things to do.

The State Fair, college football games, hayrides and just hanging out with our loved ones enjoying the memories of the fading summer and looking forward to the upcoming holidays.

 

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