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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Fall equinox: Why the first day of fall isn’t as equal as you might
think
By Forrest Brown, CNN
Updated:
7:15 AM EDT, Thu September 18, 2025
Source: CNN
Twice a year, the sun doesn’t play favorites. Everyone on Earth is
seemingly on equal status – at least when it comes to the amount of
light and dark that they get.
On Monday, we enter our second and final equinox of 2025. If you reside
in the Northern Hemisphere, you know it as the . For people south of
the equator, this equinox actually heralds the coming of .
Technically, your location on the globe also determines the local time
and even the date you experience the fall equinox. For the Americas,
Africa and Europe, it’ll take place on Monday, September 22. For some
destinations in Asia, it’ll be the next day.
People close to the equator won’t notice anything — they have
roughly 12-hour days and 12-hour nights all year long. But hardy folks
close to the poles, in places such as Alaska and the northern parts of
and Scandinavia, go through wild swings in the day/night ratio each
year. They have long, dark and then have a where night barely intrudes.
But during the equinox, everyone from pole to pole gets to enjoy a
12/12 split of day and night. Well, there’s just one rub — it
isn’t as perfectly “equal” as you might have thought.
There’s a good explanation for why you don’t get precisely 12
hours of daylight on the equinox. More on that farther down.
Here are the answers to some fall equinox questions:
Where does the word ‘equinox’ come from?
From the : The term equinox comes from the Latin word equinoxium,
meaning “equality between day and night.”
Precisely when will the fall equinox happen?
The at 18:19 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) Sunday, September 22.
For people in places such as Montreal and , that’s 2:19 p.m. local
time. It comes at 1.19 p.m. in St. Louis and 12.19 p.m. for Mexico
City. Even further westward, that’s 11.19 a.m. for Seattle.
Going in the other direction across the Atlantic Ocean, residents of
Amsterdam and Split, Croatia, will officially mark the occasion at 8.19
p.m. Sunday. Traveling even farther east, Dubai marks the exact event
at 10.19 p.m.
For residents of Hong Kong, it’s 2:19 a.m. on Monday, September 23.
In Tokyo, it’s 3:19 a.m. on the same day. You can .
Is autumn equinox the official first day of fall?
Yes. Fall officially begins on the autumn equinox.
But there are actually two measures of the seasons: “the astronomical
seasons” (which follow the arrivals of equinoxes and solstices) and
what’s called the 
Allison Chinchar, CNN meteorologist, explains the differences:
“Astronomical fall is essentially the time period from the autumnal
equinox up to the winter solstice. Those dates can vary by a day or two
each year,” she says.
“Meteorological fall is different … in that the dates never change
and are based on climatological seasons rather than Earth’s angle
relative to the sun. These are perhaps the seasons that more people are
familiar with,” Chinchar says.
Meteorological seasons are defined as the following: March 1 to May 31
is spring; June 1 to August 31 is summer; September 1 to November 30 is
autumn; and December 1 to February 28 is winter.
“This makes some dates tricky,” Chinchar says. “For example,
December 10, most people would consider winter, but if you are using
the astronomical calendar, technically that is still considered autumn
because it is before the winter solstice.”
She said that “meteorologists and climatologists prefer to use the
‘meteorological calendar’ because not only do the dates not change
— making it easy to remember — but also because it falls in line
more with what people think traditional seasons are.”
Why does fall equinox happen?
The Earth rotates along an imaginary line that runs from North Pole to
South Pole. It’s called the axis, and this rotation is what gives us
day and night.
However, the axis tilts at 23.5 degrees, . That positions one
hemisphere of the planet to get more sunlight than the other for half
of the year’s orbit around the sun. This discrepancy in sunlight is
what triggers the seasons.
The effect is at its maximum in late June and late December. Those are
the solstices, and they have the most extreme differences between day
and night, especially near the poles. (That’s why it stays light for
so long each day during the summer in places such as Scandinavia.)
Since the summer solstice in June, days have been progressively
becoming shorter in the Northern Hemisphere and the nights longer for
the past three months. Welcome to fall equinox!
What did our ancestors know?
Long before the age of clocks, satellites and modern technology, our �
about the movement of the sun across the sky – enough to build
massive monuments and temples that, among other purposes, served as
giant calendars to mark the seasons.
Here are just a few of the sites associated with the equinox and the
annual passage of the sun:
: Many remain, but we do know they are aligned to mark the yearly
passage of the sun.
: These seven temples on the Mediterranean island are some of the
earliest free-standing stone buildings in the world, going back 5,000
to 6,000 years ago. At  temples, the semicircular chambers are
aligned so that the rising sun on an equinox is framed between the
stones.
•: El Castillo, the famous pyramid at Chichén Itzá, puts on a
striking show on the equinoxes. Constructed by the Toltec-Maya people�
, the pyramid was built to cast a shadow during equinoxes on the
northern balustrade of El Castillo. It looks like the form of a snake
slithering down the stairs, and the ancient special effect is
heightened by the heads of sculpted beasts at the base.
•: Much more recent in origin (1724 and 1730), these buildings from
the end of the Mughal period are astronomical observatories.
What are some fall equinox festivals and rituals?
All around the world, the fall equinox has weaved its way into our
cultures and celebrations.
In Greek mythology, the fall equinox marks the return of the  to the
underworld for three months, where she is reunited with her husband,
Hades.
Harvest festivals had their roots in fall equinox since pagan times.
 still celebrate the Harvest Moon (also known as the Mid-Autumn
Festival). Lanterns line the streets as people give thanks, watch the
moon and eat. Round pastries called are a Mid-Autumn Festival favorite.
It’s held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month on the Chinese
calendar. That was held on September 17 this year.
In Japan, . In Japanese, it’s known as Shubun no Hi (秋分の日),�
. The roots of the celebration are thought to go back to Shintoism and
Buddhism.
So why isn’t the equinox exactly equal?
It turns out you get a little more daylight than darkness on the
equinox, depending on where you are on the planet. How does that
happen? The answer is complicated but fascinating.
The “nearly” equal hours of day and night are because of a sunrise
is measured and the refraction of sunlight in our atmosphere.
This bending of light rays causes the sun to appear above the horizon
when the actual position of the sun is below the horizon. The day is a
bit longer at higher latitudes than at the equator because it takes the
sun longer to rise and set the closer you get to the poles.
So on fall equinox, the length of day will vary a little depending on
where you are. Here are a few breakdowns to give you an approximate
idea:
• At the equator: About 12 hours and 6 minutes (Quito, Ecuador)
• At 30 degrees latitude: About 12 hours and 8 minutes (Cairo, Egypt)
• At 60 degrees latitude: About 12 hours and 14 minutes (Helsinki,
Finland)
For the truly equal day/night split, you have to wait some days after
the official equinox. That’s . When the equilux happens for you
depends on your latitude, according to . The closer you are to the
equator, the later the date for the fall equilux.
And at the equator itself, the equilux never arrives because of that
aforementioned atmospheric refraction of the sunlight. There’s always
a little more daylight than darkness along that line.
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