First Day of Fall (Thursday) Climatology for North Platte and Valentine

News Headlines

April 27, 2025 Western Sandhills and Cherry County Tornado Event
Drought Conditions Have Deteriorated Across All of Western and North Central Nebraska Over the Past Month.

Autumnal Equinox
9:21am CDT Thursday, September 22, 2016

The Autumnal Equinox this year occurs on Thursday, September 22 for Western and North Central Nebraska. The official time of the Equinox (the moment when the Sun is positioned directly over the Earth's equator) is 1421 UTC September 22 or 9:21 am CDT (8:21 am MDT) Wednesday morning.

Typically the day of the Universal Time occurs is the day most often referenced as the first day of fall. Thus most calendars will say September 22rd as the first day of fall this year. During daylight time there is a 5 hour difference between the start of the day for Universal Time to Central Daylight Time (6 hours for MDT). Occasionally the Equinox occurs early in the day Universal Time, (like in 2014 and next in 2018) and confusion may occur.

During the day of an Equinox, nearly every point on the Earth's surface has the same sunrise and sunset, (exception is when there is an obstruction to the horizon like a mountain). The autumnal equinox will occur on either the 22nd or 23rd of September. Below are the records for North Platte and Valentine for the both days, which show a wide range of weather is possible.

North Platte Records
Record	September 22	September 23
High	93/1938	95/1921
Low	24/1995	23/1989
Lowest Max	48/1895	46/2000
Highest Min	63/1937,1891	67/2007
Precip	1.21/1941	.95/1941
Snow	T/1895	0.3/2000

Valentine Records
Record	September 22	September 23
High	95/1922	96/1905
Low	23/1989	23/1989
Lowest Max	46/1895	44/2000,1951
Highest Min	60/1929,1920	63/1958
Precip	0.97/1960	0.66/1941
Snow	None	T/1985

Page composition
by Matt Masek

LBF RSS Feed