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Fall begins

Autumn Equinox
Posted at 5:37 PM, Sep 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-22 19:41:18-04

Fall is here! Well, as of Monday morning at 2:50 it’s here. (Meteorological fall began on September 1st.)

The beginning of astronomical fall is also called the autumn equinox and is the moment the sun is directly over the equator.

It’s the halfway point between the “longest” day of the year and the “shortest” day. While we associate the equinox with equal day and night it’s not quite exactly equal, we have just over 12 hours of daylight as the sun rises at 7:11 am and sets at 7:21 pm.

As our daylight hours continue to dwindle in Omaha, our average highs continue to drop, too. By the start of October, which is quickly approaching, our average high will be 71 degrees. We’ll enjoy the mild temperatures while they last, because our average high is only 41 degrees by the end of November. (Sounds cold now, but 41° will sound great in the middle of winter!)

It’s going to feel like a fall morning on Monday with most of us in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa in the 50s, and the afternoon will be quite pleasant as many of us will be back near 80 degrees. Temperature wise, we’ll be a bit above average through this first week of fall with most afternoon highs in the 70s and low 80s until next Sunday.