Fall Equinox 2013: Sunday Marks First Day of Autumn

The last few hours of summer 2013 slips away on Saturday — the autumnal equinox falls on Sunday marking the start of fall.

The 2013 autumn season officially begins Sunday at 4:44 p.m. EDT

What is the autumnal equinox? 

Equinoxes fall on the halfway point between solstices and occurs when the sun crosses the equator, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac ,  and "day and night are each about 12 hours long .... The Sun crosses the celestial equator going southward; it rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west."

The nearly equal 12 hours of light and darkness can be attributed to the Earth's lack of an axial tilt on the day of the equinox. In fact, the word equinox is derived from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night.

In Johns Creek, according to sunrisesunset.com, the sun will come up at 7:26 a.m. and set at 7:34 p.m on the autumnal equinox. You'll notice that this is not actually a perfect 12 hours of light and darkness. As timeanddate.com reports that the disparity is because of issues such as light refraction and other reasons.

See you next year, summer. Hello fall, and happy autumnal equinox!

And looking ahead to the next season, Winter Solstice begins on December 21, 2013 at 12:11 p.m. EST.

Are you happy that fall is here? Or do you already miss summer? Share your thoughts in the comments.