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Yorkshire Times
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Jan Harris
Deputy Group Editor
8:00 AM 22nd September 2017
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The First Day Of Autumn!

 
Colours of Autumn - photo KaCey97078
Colours of Autumn - photo KaCey97078
Autumn Equinox 2017 in the Northern Hemisphere will be at 21:02 on Friday 22 September.

So today (Friday 22 September) is the first day of autumn according to the astronomical calendar, when the days are getting shorter and the nights are drawing in, until the winter solstice on 21 December, when the pattern will reverse.

There are two equinoxes every year - in September and March - when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal.

The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, aequus (equal) and nox (genitive noctis) (night).

Astronomical Seasons

Spring Equinox - 20/21 March
Summer Solstice - 21/22 June
Autumn Equinox - 22/23 September
Winter Solstice - 21/22 December

Meteorological Seasons

The meteorological seasons are different as 1 September is the start of autumn. This is because meteorologists like to divide the year into four equal parts. 1 March - Spring, 1 June - Summer, 1 September - Autumn and 1 December - Winter.

Colours of Autumn -photo Storm Crypt
Colours of Autumn -photo Storm Crypt
So it looks like summer is drawing to a close.

The temperature has dropped, mornings are getting chilly, can even be foggy or frosty, days are getting shorter and the nights are drawing in.

What can we look forward to?

Well autumn is a very colourful month - thanks to the vibrant colours of the trees.

The leaves on the trees stop producing chlorophyll which gives them their green colour, thus allowing other pigments of colour to show through ranging from yellow, to orange to red.

We can look forward to woodland walks, apple picking, conker fights, harvest, carving out pumpkins for halloween, bonfire night, mugs of hot chocolate and cosy nights in by the fire. Can I even mention 94 days to Christmas!

When do the clocks go back?

British Summer Time will come to an end on Sunday, 29 October when the clocks go back one hour at 2am and GMT resumes - meaning another hour for us in bed in the UK.