When Is The First Day Of Fall 2022? Events To Enjoy In Illinois

ILLINOIS — This week’s Illinois weather may not feel a lot like fall, but the calendar indicates that crisp temperatures and other autumnal signs have arrived – just in time for Thursday’s autumnal equinox.

From the leaves changing to fall festivals and pumpkin patches and another fall “Chicagohenge” event that brings out local residents’ cell phone cameras, the equinox officially ushers in the new season and its promise of crisp air, show-stopping fall foliage, and cool evenings just perfect for sitting around a fire pit or perhaps taking in a half-dozen fall and winter meteor showers.

There are plenty of chances in Illinois to play in the sunshine before the cold of winter creeps in (the winter solstice is Wednesday, Dec. 21, if you’re keeping track on the calendar). It’s prime time to go to apple orchards. Pumpkins are ripening on the vine. Farmers are cutting mazes into their cornfields to entertain local families.

Some things to take in around Illinois include:

Pumpkin Patches, Corn Mazes In Chicago-Area: Fall 2022 Guide

Chicago Area Fall Festivals: Craft Shows, Oktoberfests, Street Markets

Chicagoland Apple Orchards: Fall 2022 Guide

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Starting on Thursday, Chicago residents will be able to begin taking in the annual “Chicagohenge”, which arrives each year to commemorate the start of autumn. Thanks to the city’s grid system, the sunrise and sunset align perfectly between the buildings on Chicago’s east-west streets, which provides a unique photo opportunity for local residents and city visitors.

According to Adler Planetarium, the city’s grid system lines up almost perfectly with the cardinal east and west directions of a compass. During the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun rises and sets directly in line with the city’s east and west streets, setting up the Chicagohenge experience.

This week’s Chicagohenge experience will last through Sunday and will take place directly around sunrise and sunset.

Football season is underway for professional teams and many colleges, and “Friday night lights” — the moniker that’s been given to high school football games — are shining.

The autumnal equinox isn’t a daylong event but rather occurs at the exact moment the sun crosses the celestial equator — that’s at 8:03 p.m. Central time on Thursday.

• Related: 2022 Fall Foliage Peak Map: Best Time To See Leaves In Illinois

The word equinox comes from the Latin words “aequus,” which means “equal,” and “nox,” which means night. That’s led to the perception that everyone worldwide sees the same amount of daylight and nighttime, but it’s not the absolute truth. To be precise, daylight lasts about eight minutes longer than nighttime on the day of the equinox, EarthSky reported.

Speaking of daylight, it’ll be time for the twice-annual clock-changing ritual before you know it. Daylight saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 6. You may recall legislation for year-round daylight saving time sailed through the Senate, but the issue is far from settled in the House.

Here are five other things to know about the September equinox:

1. There’s no guarantee, of course, but the chances of seeing stunning northern lights displays increase after the fall equinox, according to NASA. Both the spring and fall equinoxes are good aurora seasons, but autumn produces a surplus of geomagnetic storms — almost twice the annual average. And right now, the chances of seeing auroras are greater as the sun approaches “solar maximum” in its 11-year cycle and the number of sunspots ramps up.

• Related: Aurora Borealis Displays More Likely In Active Solar Storm Season | Aurora Borealis Hunting: What’s A Kp Index, More Northern Lights Tips

2. The date of the September equinox varies. Usually, it’s on the 22nd, as it is this year, or the 23rd, but it can occur as early as Sept. 21 or as late as Sept. 24, according to Space.com.

A Sept. 21 autumnal equinox hasn’t occurred in several millennia, but some folks alive today may see it the next couple of times it rolls around, in 2092 and then again four years later in 2096. And the first day of fall hasn’t fallen on Sept. 24 since 1931, and that won’t happen again until 2303.

Here’s the reason: A year is defined as 365 days by the Gregorian calendar, but it takes the Earth 365-¼ days to orbit the sun. What this means is the autumnal equinox occurs about six hours later than it did the year prior, which eventually moves the date by a day.

3. Thank Canada for spectacular fall sunsets with more vivid pinks, reds, and oranges than at any other time of the year. The Weather Channel offers an explanation: As dry, clean Canadian air begins to sweep across the country, fewer colors of the rainbow spectrum are scattered by air molecules. That means the reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks make it through for your sunset-viewing pleasure.

4. No matter where you are in the world, the sun will rise due east and set due west during the fall equinox (the same thing happens during the spring equinox). For the directionally challenged, it’s a good time for a reset. Go outside around sunset or sunrise, find a landmark and mark the sun’s location in relation to it.

5. Fall isn’t just a time to start winterizing homes against stink bugs and other insects and buttoning up other things outside. It’s rutting — or mating — season for deer, elk, and moose, and males will battle it out by thrusting their antlers together until one of them gives up or dies.

• Related: Stink Bugs, Other Insects May Enter Your Home Soon: How To Stop Them

Swans, geese, and ducks begin their migration south. Frogs burrow deep into mudholes to wait out the winter. Chipmunks retreat to their underground tunnels. Bears eat and drink almost nonstop as they prepare for hibernation.

And, according to the Mother Nature Network, the male Siberian hamster goes through a huge biological change: Its testicles swell almost 17 times their normal size. There’s a thing you know now.