# Happy autumnal equinox **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2008, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045 "2008-03-20T06:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/1 "2008-03-20T06:40:34Z")
It occurred about an hour ago. Roll on the cooler weather! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/2 "2008-03-20T06:46:09Z")
Cheers to that. It’s nice not having to slog through winter rains, but – we need the cool and the rain, now. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/3 "2008-03-20T07:01:08Z")
Okay … it’s autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere but vernal equinox in the northern. LOL And I don’t guess it’s here quite yet for those in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/4 "2008-03-20T07:20:31Z")
Hot season started here a couple of weeks ago. Every day’s a scorcher now. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/5 "2008-03-20T11:03:01Z")
I love the autumn. Perhaps when I am wealthy I’ll get a place in both hemispheres and just switch every six months. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/6 "2008-03-20T11:09:36Z")
It snowed yesterday. After weeks of unseasonably warm weather - snow. WTF was that all about? Oh, right: spring. Oh, spring, I love you and your unpredictability! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/7 "2008-03-20T11:15:13Z")
The autumnal equinox (and the discerned seasons themselves) is entirely a northern hemisphere construct that has no validity for the rest of the world, particularly for those in the tropics but also including us freaks down here in Australia. Sorry to rain on your parade **Cuncator.** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/8 "2008-03-20T11:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=kambuckta] The autumnal equinox (and the discerned seasons themselves) is entirely a northern hemisphere construct that has no validity for the rest of the world, particularly for those in the tropics but also including us freaks down here in Australia. Sorry to rain on your parade **Cuncator.** 😃 [/QUOTE] The equinox is a specific astronomical moment that has validity all over the world. And I’ll forgive you if you learn to spell my name correctly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/9 "2008-03-20T11:49:50Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] And I’ll forgive you if you learn to spell my name correctly. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Y’know, last time I responded to one of your posts I misspelled your name but caught myself in time before submitting the damned thing. You caught me THIS time but! Sorry **Cun_C_tator**. 😛 On the other issue, the equinox might well be a ‘specific astronomical moment that has validity all over the world’ in astronomical terms, but it certainly has no validity in our general weather or climatic system, particularly in these times when the seasons are erratic and non-conformist. Autumn quite rightly refers to that time in the NH when the cooler weather begins and the deciduous trees lose their leaves and the earth cools and goes into a period of dormancy, but that just doesn’t happen on mainlaind Australia anymore. We might get some cooler weather, but most of our indigenous flora is evergreen rather than deciduous and we don’t have animals that hibernate away during the long, cold, ice-packed winters. And the Autumn rains that I remember from my childhood are a thing of the past. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/10 "2008-03-20T13:01:27Z")
[QUOTE=kambuckta] The autumnal equinox (and the discerned seasons themselves) is entirely a northern hemisphere construct that has no validity for the rest of the world, particularly for those in the tropics but also including us freaks down here in Australia. Sorry to rain on your parade **Cuncator.** 😃 [/QUOTE] Not so fast there **kambuckta** , in my little tropical paradise the autumnal equinox marks the beginning of the dry. Already the mornings are cooler, and it may not rain again for eight months (or maybe it will, who knows.) The easterlies have started, the monsoonal trough is weakening and moving northward, and we are sleeping without airconditioning. Bring it on! Sure, it has little to do with yellow leaves, but it’s still significant. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/11 "2008-03-20T13:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] The equinox is a specific astronomical moment that has validity all over the world. [/QUOTE] Yes. The equinox is determined by the earth’s position in its orbit, which is of course the same for all locations in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/12 "2008-03-20T19:40:29Z")
ah, spring has sprungeth in the circle city (indianapolis, indiana) at last! lo, the indy 500 approacheth… the hell are my shorts and suntan oil anyways? ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/13 "2008-03-20T20:36:54Z")
The Norwester’s have done their Autumnal thing here - regular as bloody clockwork they blast any moisture out of the soil and leave us in grumpy puddles of sweat. Drivers use their middle fingers far more than their indicators and everyone knows that there’s a certain > [@](#): > > validity in our general weather or climatic system that says the wind will drop away to stillness, the mist will roll in from the sea like a Paul McCartney song and suddenly it will be glorious cool multi-coloured Autumn. Yay! But that’s Napier - in Wellington there’s hardly any seasonal change - slightly fewer crappy days over Summer is about the only noticeable change that I remember from growing up there. Happy equinox everyone! ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/14 "2008-03-20T21:56:46Z")
I thought that parts of Chile and Argentina experience a similar kind of autumn weather as we in North America/Europe do. Maybe South Africa too? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-autumnal-equinox/442045/15 "2008-03-20T23:31:21Z")
Spring begins. And here in Chicago we have a winter storm warning. We may get up to 7 inches of snow. [http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/2008/03/late\_week\_storm\_threatens\_stic.html](http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/2008/03/late_week_storm_threatens_stic.html)