Autumn Equinox March 2025

This week is the Autumn Equinox, which means the Day and Night are nearly equal. Autumnal Equinox, Southern Hemisphere areas include Australia, New Zealand, South America, Southern Africa, and Norfolk Island. Wednesday, the 20 March 2025, is the official first day of Autumn as the astronomical date for the Southern Hemispheres start of Autumn.

We are lucky here on Norfolk Island, as we are subtropical, we can still enjoy mild temperatures for a few more months until the winter months arrive. Locations in the New Zealand and Southern Australia, further south than Norfolk Island, will now be enjoying the colourful change of leaves as the autumn fall arrives. Many places are harvesting fruits and vegetables before the onset of winter.

This time of the year we see the migration sea birds leave Norfolk Island as their breeding season comes to an end and other birds flying North for the winter will be travelling to their Northern Hemisphere homes.

On the equinox, night and day are nearly the same length, 12 hours, all over the world. This is the reason it's called an “equinox”, derived from Latin, meaning “equal night.” However, in reality, equinoxes don't have exactly 12 hours of daylight. On the day of the equinox, the centre of the Sun spends a roughly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on the Earth, so night and day are about the same length.

There are two equinoxes every year: one in March and one in September. I have read that, in March, the Sun crosses the equator from south to north. Also, on the day of an equinox, the Sun rises everywhere on Earth (except at the poles) at about 06:00 and sets at about 18:00 (local solar time).

If you would like to check out more details check out this site for more information.

https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/march-equinox.html

It is also only a few weeks from this time that the clocks go back marking the end of summer “day light saving”.

After this month’s Equinox, our nights will now get longer and days shorter. We still have time to enjoy the warm days before the winter chilly weather arrives. I am sure I will still be swimming for another couple of months at the Norfolk Island beaches.

Betty Matthews

14 March 2025