When does summer officially end in Tennessee?
It has been a scorcher of a summer, but schools are back in session, the sun is setting sooner, pumpkin spice everything will soon hit the shelves and football is in the air which means fall is approaching. So when does summer officially end?
The summer solstice, signaling the beginning of summer, fell on June 21, 2023. Just around three months later, the autumnal equinox will occur in Tennessee on Sept. 23 around 1:49 a.m. signaling the return of some relief from high temperatures.
The equinox is known as the astronomical start of the season, but there is another method used to measure the change in seasons.
The meteorological start to fall is based on the annual temperature cycle and the 12-month calendar. With this definition, each season begins on the first of a particular month and lasts for three months. This means summer will end on Aug. 31 and fall will start on Sept. 1, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
We'll still have several weeks of summer ahead of us, including highs reaching into the 90s as we head into September, according to Accuweather.
When is the last day of summer?
The autumnal equinox is expected to begin on Sept. 23 in Tennessee, meaning the last day of summer will be on Sept. 22.
If you go by the meteorological definition it ends Aug. 31.
What is an equinox?
According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, an equinox is when the suncrosses the “celestial equator". Which is an imaginary extension of Earth’s equator line into space. The equinox occurs when the sun’s center passes through it.
The equinox is designated as one of the two times of the year when Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in almost an equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes, according to the National Weather Service.
In the northern hemisphere, when the sun crosses the equator going north to south, it marks the autumnal equinox. The vernal equinox is when it crosses from south to north.
On these two days, the day is split by nearly an equal 12 hours of daylight and darkness.
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Why is it called the autumnal equinox?
The word equinox is derived from Latin. Aequus (equal) and nox (night) directly describes the occurrence seen twice a year during the start of fall and spring.
The autumnal equinox, which always falls on Sept. 23 in Tennessee, is one of two equinoxes. The other is the vernal equinox or March equinox. This occurs each year between March 19 and March 21 and marks the start of spring in the northern hemisphere.
When will it get cooler in Tennessee?
A "chilled and wet" winter has already been predicted for Tennessee this year by the Almanac. As for autumn, Accuweather's month-long forecast for September continues to show highs in the high 80s heading into the 90s, but the temperatures are starting to drop at night.
By the end of August and the beginning of September, evening temperatures should be dipping down to the mid-60s, according to Accuweather.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Summer heat continues in Tennessee. When does fall begin?
