Happy fall y'all! Season starts at 2:20 PM

Happy fall y'all! The best season (my opinion) of the year starts at 2:20 PM Wednesday afternoon when the autumnal equinox officially occurs. Earth's tilt gives us our seasons and the fall equinox is the sun is directly over the Equator which gives us close to equal day and night.

The term equinox means equal and when it comes to seasons is commonly associated with equal day and night. But when it comes to the sunrise and sunset times it's not exactly equal. The sunrise Wednesday will happen at 6:39 AM and the sunset at 6:48 giving us 12 hours and 9 minutes of daylight. Milwaukee will actually be closer to "equal" day and night on September 25th with 12 hours and 23 seconds of daylight. The discrepancy comes from how you define the sunrise and sunset. Commonly they are defined as when the first glimpse of the sun's orb comes over the horizon at sunrise and the last to leave at sunset. If we noted the sunrise and sunset as the time that the middle part of the sun was over the horizon then we would be closer to equal day and night on the equinox.

One of the best parts about fall in Wisconsin is the changing leaves. As of the first day of fall almost ten counties in the northern half of the state are seeing 25% peak fall color but none in southeast Wisconsin. As cooler temperatures take over the next few weeks we will likely see the leaves change a bit faster.

In an average year, full peak color arrives in northern Wisconsin a little over a week to start October. We don't typically see full peak color in southern Wisconsin until the end of October. 

Download the CBS 58 Ready Weather app to track the fall temps.