Today is the last day of summer 2012, and fall is just hours away—that means another fall (or autumnal) equinox is coming.
But what is the autumnal equinox?
Equinoxes fall on the halfway point between solstices and occur, according to the Washington Post, "when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of roughly equal length, everywhere in the world."
The nearly equal 12 hours of light and darkness can be attributed to the Earth's lack of an axial tilt on the day of the equinox. In fact, the word equinox is derived from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night.
In Gig Harbor, according to sunrisesunset.com, the sun will come up at 6:57 a.m. and set at 7:09 p.m on the autumnal equinox. As you notice, that is not actually a perfect 12 hours of light and darkness. As timeanddate.com reports, this is because of issues such as light refraction and other reasons.
See ya next year, summer. Hello fall, and happy autumnal equinox!
Here's the weekend forecast according to the National Weather Service:
- Tonight: Cloudy, with a low around 51. South southwest wind 7 to 10 mph.
- Saturday: Areas of drizzle before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 60. South southwest wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon.
- Saturday Night: Cloudy, with a low around 51. Light and variable wind becoming north around 6 mph after midnight.
- Sunday: Cloudy, with a high near 63. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
- Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51.
