First day of fall · September equinox
How many days until fall?
Checked October 8, 2026 · first publish
351 days
Thu, Sep 23, 2027
There are 351 days until the first day of fall (September equinox), Thu, Sep 23, 2027. In 2027 the equinox lands after midnight in the East but before midnight in the West, so the date depends on your time zone.
50 weeks and 1 day · 50 weekends · 351 sleeps · 240 business days
| US time zone | Local time | Local date |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern time | 2:02 a.m. EDT | Thu, Sep 23, 2027 |
| Central time | 1:02 a.m. CDT | Thu, Sep 23, 2027 |
| Mountain time | 12:02 a.m. MDT | Thu, Sep 23, 2027 |
| Arizona time | 11:02 p.m. MST | Wed, Sep 22, 2027 |
| Pacific time | 11:02 p.m. PDT | Wed, Sep 22, 2027 |
| Alaska time | 10:02 p.m. AKDT | Wed, Sep 22, 2027 |
| Hawaii time | 8:02 p.m. HST | Wed, Sep 22, 2027 |
Instant from the US Naval Observatory: 06:02 UTC on Sep 23, 2027. That is Thursday in the Eastern, Central and Mountain daylight zones, and Wednesday evening in Arizona, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii time.
| Year | UTC | New York time | Days away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Wed, Sep 23, 2026, 00:05 UTC | 8:05 p.m. EDT on Tue, Sep 22, 2026 | 15 days ago |
| 2027 | Thu, Sep 23, 2027, 06:02 UTC | 2:02 a.m. EDT on Thu, Sep 23, 2027 | 351 |
| 2028 | Fri, Sep 22, 2028, 11:45 UTC | 7:45 a.m. EDT on Fri, Sep 22, 2028 | 716 |
| 2029 | Sat, Sep 22, 2029, 17:38 UTC | 1:38 p.m. EDT on Sat, Sep 22, 2029 | 1081 |
| 2030 | Sun, Sep 22, 2030, 23:27 UTC | 7:27 p.m. EDT on Sun, Sep 22, 2030 | 1446 |
In 2026 the equinox came at 00:05 UTC on Sep 23, which was Tue, Sep 22 everywhere in the United States.
| Year | Clocks go back (2:00 a.m.) | Days away |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sun, Nov 1, 2026 | 25 |
| 2027 | Sun, Nov 7, 2027 | 396 |
| 2028 | Sun, Nov 5, 2028 | 760 |
| 2029 | Sun, Nov 4, 2029 | 1124 |
| 2030 | Sun, Nov 3, 2030 | 1488 |
Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. local time on the first Sunday of November (NIST): Sun, Nov 1, 2026 and Sun, Nov 7, 2027.
Why does the first day of fall 2027 have two dates?
An equinox is one instant for the whole planet. In 2027 that instant is 06:02 UTC on September 23. Clocks in the East have already passed midnight: 2:02 a.m. Thursday in New York, 1:02 a.m. Thursday in Chicago. Clocks in the West have not: 11:02 p.m. Wednesday in Phoenix and Los Angeles, 8:02 p.m. Wednesday in Honolulu. So a family in Boston and a family in Seattle can both be right about different dates. Our counter uses your device clock, so it shows the date that applies where you are.
Denver, on Mountain daylight time, reads 12:02 a.m. Thursday, two minutes past midnight. That makes it the closest call in the country.
How long is the day at the September equinox?
Our NOAA-based calculation for Sep 23, 2027 gives between about 12 hours 6 minutes and 12 hours 8 minutes of daylight in all 12 cities we track. It is the one time of year when Seattle and Miami are almost equal. After that, northern cities lose light faster, and by the December solstice Seattle's day is more than two hours shorter than Miami's.
When do the clocks change in fall?
Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. That was Sun, Nov 1, 2026, and in 2027 it is Sun, Nov 7, about six weeks after the equinox. Sunset jumps an hour earlier on the clock that day.
Questions people ask
- When is the first day of fall 2027?
- The September equinox is at 06:02 UTC on Sep 23, 2027. That is 2:02 a.m. Thursday, Sep 23 in New York and 1:02 a.m. in Chicago, but 11:02 p.m. Wednesday, Sep 22 in Los Angeles. Both dates are correct for their own zones.
- Did fall already start in 2026?
- Yes. The 2026 September equinox was 00:05 UTC on Sep 23, which was the evening of Tue, Sep 22 in every US time zone. The counter now runs to the 2027 equinox, and this page shows it as the next first day of fall.
- Is fall on September 1 or September 22?
- Meteorological fall covers September, October and November, so it starts September 1. NOAA explains that weather records use whole months to keep season statistics comparable. Astronomical fall starts at the equinox, which is the date our counter uses.
- How many weeks until fall?
- It is 50 weeks and 1 day until the September equinox, Thu, Sep 23, 2027. For a shorter target, meteorological fall starts on September 1, about three weeks earlier.
Sources
- US Naval Observatory: Earth's Seasons (API) — aa.usno.navy.mil
- AstroPixels: Solstices and Equinoxes 2001-2100 — astropixels.com
- NOAA NCEI: Meteorological versus astronomical seasons — ncei.noaa.gov
- NIST: Daylight Saving Time — nist.gov
General date information from official calendars (OPM, USNO). It is not legal, tax or immigration advice; check the agency named on the page for your own deadline.