The aspen leaves are bright yellow in the Colorado Highlands near Ward, Colorado on September 23, 2016. This year, the fall begins on Saturday, September 22.(Photo: AP)

Goodbye sweat stains. Hello pumpkin spice.

Our long hot, swampy, soggy and scorching summer ends Saturday with the autumn equinox, which marks the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere.

Autumn arrives Saturday at 21:54 EDT (it is 20:54 CDT, 19:54 MDT and 18:54 PDT).

At a precise moment, on September 21, 22 or 23, the sun appears directly above the equator, marking the exact time of the autumnal equinox here in the northern hemisphere.

Below the equator, in the southern hemisphere, there is talk of the spring or spring equinox, which marks the beginning of spring. So, if you need guaranteed warmth and sun in the coming months, head south, to countries like Argentina, South Africa or Australia.

In the United States, if you are looking for a cool, rainy climate over the next two weeks, head to the northwestern or north-central states. Warmer than average temperatures are forecast for most of the eastern half of the United States for the last 10 days of September, according to the Climate Prediction Center.

The word equinox comes from the Latin words "aequalis" and "nox", which means "equal night". At the autumn equinox (and spring), day and night last about 12 hours over most of the world.

This will be true from Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), north of the Arctic Circle, to Wellington, New Zealand, the southernmost capital of the world.

At Utqiagvik, the sun rises on Saturday at 8:07 am and sets at 8:29 pm. In Wellington, he gets up at 6:11 and goes to bed at 6:16 pm The day and the night do not last exactly 12 hours, because the atmosphere of the Earth refracts or bends the light in an optical illusion that brings more light than it does. really does.

Another funny fact: on Saturday, the sun rises in the east and lies to the west of most parts of the world, except at the North and South poles.

Although some people claim that the autumn equinox is the "official" beginning of the fall, there is no administrative or political organization that designates it.

Indeed, even though astronomers say that summer ends on Saturday, meteorologists and climatologists say that summer ended on August 31, the last day of the hottest three months of the year (June, July and August). August).

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the summer of 2018 was tied for the fourth hottest summer in the United States, while the planet as a whole experienced its fifth hottest summer ever recorded .

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