Humidity, Rain Chances Rise With First Day of Fall

The autumnal equinox arrives at 3:21 sharp this afternoon. The word “equinox” comes from Latin aequus, meaning “equal,” and nox, “night.”

This time of year (and during the spring equinox) the length of day and night are almost equal. Why not perfectly so? Because the sun isn’t an exact point in the sky and the sunrise and sunset are defined as the time when the upper disk reaches the horizon and/or falls below the horizon.

Furthermore, the refraction of sunlight through the atmosphere bends the sunlight to make it appear that the sun has risen above and below the horizon before/after it actually does. Which is why you can look directly at the sun during portions of the sunrise and sunset.

And you just came here for a simple forecast.

Well, it IS rather simple in the coming days. Sun will be limited, but the humidity won’t. Showers could race through from time to time (especially early today), but the next two days will be mostly dry in any one spot. Lastly, the longer nights and sticky air will allow for plenty of morning fog.

That’s it in a nutshell. But you’re probably thinking about the weekend already. And your app is showing the rain cloud icon for Saturday. If you believe it and cancel all your plans go to the next paragraph. If you don’t and want the real skinny, go to the next paragraph.

No doubt the storm is slowing and the rain may drag out into Friday night and early Saturday. Question still remains on how much rain will be left. Some projections show it out of here by early morning. A few others by midday.

At this point, it’s favoring the early morning. I’m just not certain the skies will abruptly clear after that. We could be dealing with lingering clouds and minimal sun through the afternoon. Certainly better than an all-day rain, but not as shiny and bright as Sunday’s forecast.

Enjoy these last hours of summer.