There\u2019s something about fall in Houston that feels a little different from the rest of the country. While much of the U.S. enjoys crisp mornings and sweater weather, we\u2019re still sipping our pumpkin spice lattes in 80\u00b0 heat and trying not to complain too much about it. For us, it\u2019s not about the leaves changing color; it\u2019s about waiting (sometimes impatiently) for that first real taste of cool air.<\/p>\n
But beyond the weather, it\u2019s worth remembering what the start of fall actually means. The autumnal equinox isn\u2019t about temperatures or leaves; it\u2019s about the Earth\u2019s journey around the Sun. Thanks to the Earth being tilted 23.5\u00b0 on its axis, we experience seasons. Without that tilt, there wouldn\u2019t be a \u201cfall\u201d to look forward to ever in Houston.<\/p>\n
When each season starts (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
The autumnal equinox doesn\u2019t really have anything to do with temperatures, though we often notice lower temperatures arriving around this time as the Sun\u2019s direct rays shift farther away from us.<\/p>\n
The first day of fall:<\/b><\/p>\n
This year, the equinox happens on Monday, September 22, at 1:19 p.m.<\/b> <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the exact moment when the Sun\u2019s direct rays shine over the equator, marking the official start of fall. The word \u201cequinox\u201d comes from Latin and means equal night. While Houston doesn\u2019t get a perfect split of 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on this day, it\u2019s pretty close: sunrise will be at 7:10 a.m. and sunset at 7:17 p.m. And here\u2019s something neat: on the equinox, the Sun rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west.<\/p>\n
Now, here\u2019s a detail many people don\u2019t realize: the Sun isn\u2019t just a single point in the sky; it\u2019s a disk. By definition, then, sunrise occurs when the top edge of the Sun first appears above the horizon, and sunset is when that top edge slips below it. That small distinction gives us an extra 2\u20133 minutes of daylight each day. Add in the fact that Earth\u2019s atmosphere bends light, making the Sun visible even when it\u2019s technically below the horizon.<\/p>\n
The start of fall (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)The equilux:<\/b><\/p>\n
The equilux, the day when daylight and darkness are closest to being equal, comes a few days after the equinox. This year, in Houston, it falls on Friday, September 26<\/b>, when the Sun will be above the horizon for exactly 12 hours, 0 minutes, and 22 seconds.<\/p>\n
Now, about that cool weather we\u2019re all waiting for: <\/b><\/p>\n
Since September 10, we\u2019ve been stuck with highs in the mid-90s, and while we keep hoping for that first real cold front, it won\u2019t arrive until we see a major weather pattern shift. Until then, highs in the 90s will stick around. So the big question is: when will that finally change?<\/p>\n
Definition is three straight days in the 70s (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
If you look at the graphic above, you\u2019ll see that Houston\u2019s first \u201creal\u201d cold front typically arrives in October. Sometimes it sneaks in as early as September, other times it holds off until November, but more often than not, October is when we finally get that first true taste of fall.<\/p>\n
Our temperatures here are shaped far more by Gulf water temperatures, wind direction, humidity, high pressure, and the timing of cold fronts. Notice what\u2019s missing from that list: the Sun\u2019s heat. At this time of year, the Sun isn\u2019t the main driver of our day-to-day weather.<\/p>\n
As we move closer to winter, though, the angle of the Sun\u2019s rays does start to play a bigger role. Here\u2019s a look at the average highs from September 21 to December 14. <\/p>\n
From September 21 to December 14 (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
There is a cool front showing up in the 10-day forecast. It\u2019s not the kind that will bring a big temperature drop or a lasting break from the humidity, but it will give us a brief taste of relief. <\/p>\n
After storms move through on Wednesday, Thursday should feel noticeably nicer, before the humidity and temperatures quickly climb back into the 90s on Friday<\/p>\n
Wednesday and Thursday should feel great after the storms move through (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Anthony’s Weather Lab<\/p>\n
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s something about fall in Houston that feels a little different from the rest of the country. While…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[83740,128095,128094,128096,16949,82897,1599,4345,5471,41372,358,3187,313],"class_list":{"0":"post-239291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-anthonys-weather-lab","9":"tag-autumnal-equinox","10":"tag-cold-weather","11":"tag-equiliux","12":"tag-fall","13":"tag-fall-season","14":"tag-forecast","15":"tag-houston","16":"tag-houston-weather","17":"tag-seasons","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115231831047389247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}