THE VERNAL EQUINOX.
OCCURRENCE TO-DAY.
GALES MERELY A MYTH.
The vernal, or spring, equinox for the Southern Hemisphere, which is the autumnal equinox for the Northern Hemisphere, will occur to-dav. An equinox falls when the sun apparently crosses the celestial equator, either northward or southward, as the case may be—southward in this instance. The name indicates that at such a time the day and night are of equal length.. There is no foundation for the common belief that there are " equinoctial gales." Continued observations have failed to show that gales are unusually prevalent at either of the two seasons. In one locality 50 years' observations showed that during the five days from March 21 to 25 and from September 21 to 25 there were fewer gales and storms than during tho preceding and succeeding five days. Apropos of the length of days and nights, it is worthy of note that "summer time," which in New Zealand is half-an-hour different from standard time, begins in the Dominion on the second Sunday in October. It ceases on the third Sunday in March.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20986, 24 September 1931, Page 8
Word Count
180THE VERNAL EQUINOX. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20986, 24 September 1931, Page 8
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