Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall !!

Today was the official last day of summer for 2008. By 10:44am Monday morning, we will say goodbye to summer and ring in the fall season.

When you think of fall, you probably think of leaves changing color, cooler temperatures, and shorter days.

For us in East Texas, however, we usually don't see those signs take place until late in October and early November.

So what does fall mean? It is during the day tomorrow in which we will have 12 hours of daylight and nearly 12 hours of darkness. The sun at noon will be directly over the equator, giving the earth an equal distribution of solar energy.

The scientific term used to describe the first day of fall is "Autumn Equinox." The word equinox derives from the latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night). [Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox] Hence, that's why we have an equal amount of darkness and daylight on this day.

Our Autumn Equinox occurs right around September 21, depending on the tilt of the earth's axis and the sun angle with respect to earth.