Meteorological vs astronomical autumn: which is it?

You may be thinking that autumn doesn't start until later in September, and you wouldn't be wrong thinking this. There are two separate dates which can be used to define the start of the season.

Astronomically, the start of autumn takes places on the autumn equinox, when the length of day and night are the same in all parts of the world.

It is defined by the Earth's axis and orbit around the sun, and the exact date varies slightly each year.

This year, the autumn equinox falls on September 23rd at 13.43 pm BST, with the astronomical autumn running until December 21st.

Meteorologically, seasons are a fixed date because it is statistically easier to process the data by taking four equal quarters for each of the four seasons.

The meteorological autumn in the Northern Hemisphere is made up of September (starting on the 1st), October, November, with meteorological winter beginning on December 1st.

While the days are really getting shorter and cooler for us, the opposite is true for those in the Southern Hemisphere.

Learn more about our seasons in our weather explained video here: