What's the difference between meteorological fall and astronomical fall?

AccuWeather

If you ask most people when fall begins, they'll tell you that it's on the solstice late in September, but it's a little different for meteorologists.

Transcript

00:00It is the start of meteorological fall, and AccuWeather's Autumn Anthony Laubach joins us

00:05from Denver, Colorado, to explain why we see two different starts to fall. You know,

00:11we never called him Anthony Laubach before, but I think we're trying to shoot for the alliteration.

00:17Autumn Anthony, what do you think about that?

00:18It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right, Tony.

00:22It is not. In fact, Anthony is usually what I am called by my mother when I'm in trouble,

00:28but I figured for this we'll make an exception because autumn, Tony just doesn't work out very well.

00:33And neither does fall, Tony, although Tony does fall a lot.

00:36Today, September 1st, not really feeling like fall here with the AccuWeather real field temperature

00:41currently at 89 degrees, but nonetheless, we are starting fall for the first of two official times,

00:49and it is official mainly to us meteorologists because it's just easier for the bookkeeping.

00:55Let me show you the dates we're looking at this year.

00:57Obviously, today, September 1st, we're looking at the start of meteorological fall.

01:02We've got to go about three weeks up the road there to September 22nd before we get to astronomical fall,

01:07but notice there the word choice for that, sometimes, and it's about half the time.

01:13Typically, we bounce back and forth between the 21st and the 22nd,

01:16and that can get a little bit confusing when you're trying to keep records that are meant for seasonal records.

01:22Imagine, for instance, you have the Equinox on September 21st.

01:27That would mean that summer ends on the 21st.

01:30Well, if you've got it on the 22nd, then that would be summer ending on the 22nd.

01:33So if you set a record on the 21st, depending on the year, that could be a summer record or a fall record,

01:38which makes for utter confusion, not to mention the Equinox has different times in addition to the different dates.

01:45We start meteorological fall today at midnight, and that is the case every year, which means it's easier to keep the books.

01:54And we keep three-month seasons, obviously, as we get into winter, we get into December.

01:58We make that the December 1st, get into spring, and so forth.

02:02We always do that on the 1st every three months.

02:04So it keeps everything very easy in the books, and it prevents us, especially us spreadsheet nerds like myself,

02:10from having to come up with complicated equations trying to dissect exactly what those records are if we're going by the astronomical season.

02:18So, albeit warm here in Denver, Colorado, it is the start of meteorological fall.

02:24Last week felt more like the start of it actually felt like fall, but we've warmed up considerably since then.

02:30But the steps of fall have taken very nicely. Pumpkin spice season has begun. Football season has begun.

02:36So most of fall is underway, if you ask Autumn Anthony.

02:41All right. I'm a fan. Meteorologist Autumn Anthony Laubach.

02:44Thanks again for joining us here on this holiday, Tony.

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