AUGUSTA, Ga. - With the summer heat in full force, Angela from Aiken, S.C., wants to know when fall arrives.

Officially, fall begins in Augusta on Sept. 22 at 5:18 p.m. That's when the sun's most direct rays will be right over the equator, which is known as the autumnal equinox.

On the first day of summer, back on June 21, the sun's most direct rays were closer to us, over the Tropic of Cancer, which is just south of the Florida keys.

Ever since then, the sun's most direct rays have been shifting southward back toward the equator.

For climatology reasons, meteorologists consider fall to begin on September 1 and end on Nov. 30, but astronomically, we go by the date of Sept. 22 as the official start of fall.

By the way, on average, there's a huge temperature difference between the start and end of meteorological autumn in Augusta. On Sept. 1, for example, the average low and high are 66 and 88, respectively. By Nov. 30, the average low and high are 37 and 63!

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