AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.
Summer Moving Towards Northern Hemisphere.
The autumnal equinox for the Southern Hemisphere, when the sun crosses the equator on its return journey to the north, occurs to-day. Theoretically, according to the literal meaning of equinox, the hours of darkness and the hours of daylight should be exactly equal, but to-day the sun rose at 6.32 a.m. and sets at 6.42 p.m., giving ten minutes over the twelve hours for the daylight period. By next week, however, the daylight will have decreased to less than twelve hours, and until the end of June the days will continue to grow shorter. The fact will not be very marked till April 29. Summer time will end on that day, and the sudden shortening of the evenings will be very marked. At the time of the equinox it is commonly believed that strong gales may be expected. This popular idea has no foundation in fact, for continued observations have failed to show any unusual prevalence of gales at this season. In one case, observations taken for 50 yearg show that during the five days from March 21 to March 25 and from September 21 to September 25 (the vernal equinox) there were fewer gales and storms than during the preceding and succeeding five days.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19340321.2.133
Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20260, 21 March 1934, Page 8
Word Count
212AUTUMNAL EQUINOX. Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20260, 21 March 1934, Page 8
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