At precisely 6:14 this evening the Autumn Equinox will occur – and for the next 6 months the sun will spend more time shining over the Northern Hemisphere as we head towards winter.
For many people today is officially the change of season from summer to autumn in New Zealand and across the world March 20th will herald the end of winter in the northern hemisphere.
The shortest day is exactly 12 weeks away today.
By the end of this week the nights will be longer than the days – currently they are equal in length.
It has become increasingly obvious that evenings and mornings are drawing in and now there are less than two weeks to go until daylight savings ends and our clocks go back one hour – giving us an extra hours sleep in.
The 3 months with the least amount of sunlight begins in 6 weeks time, sometimes referred to as the solar winter.
– Homepage image / Auckland sunset, file, Sarah van der Klay
– WeatherWatch.co.nz
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RW on 20/03/2012 3:40am
Note that at the equinox, daylight length is about 12 hours 7 minutes.
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WW Forecast Team on 20/03/2012 3:53am
Interesting! Is that in any particular place, or worldwide?
– PD
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RW on 20/03/2012 4:16am
It does depend on latitude. At the equator the day length is about 12 hours 7 minutes all year round. Up to about latitudes of 25 N/S the day length at equinox is close to this, but is over 12 hours 10 minutes at London’s latitude, and is about 12 hours 16 minutes at Helsinki.
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