Fall officially begins today

The fall season officially began today at 2:50 a.m. making today the autumnal equinox.

An equinox happens twice each year, once at the beginning of fall and another to herald the spring season. They are the two times each year with the hours of the day and night are nearly equal wherever you are on the planet.

In Vicksburg, sunrise today was at 6:52 a.m. and sunset will be 6:59 p.m.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, nights will become longer than daytime hours from now until the beginning of the winter season in late December marking the winter solstice. At the solstice, we will experience the longest night of the year, after which the days will again begin to lengthen.

In the southern hemisphere, the seasons are the reverse of what we experience here.

Weather wise, it looks like Mississippi will experience more summer-like temperatures and rain patterns. The Weather Channel’s 10-day forecast predicts more days in the mid to upper 90s with little to no rain through Oct. 3, when nighttime temps will fall below 70 degrees. On Oct. 4, we may see our first stretch of sub-90 temperatures.