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Full "Harvest" Moon on the 23rd
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Last Quarter Moon on the 1st
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New Moon on the 8th
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 | Sunrise September 1
6:11 AM EDT | Sunset September 1
7:24 PM EDT | | Sunrise September 30 6:45 AM EDT | | Sunset September 30 6:30 PM EDT | |
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SkyWatch Almanac
"A foggy morning will fade away,
A foggy afternoon will stay”
You can pretend in August that summer is not ready to leave just yet, but September is not that subtle, or forgiving. Warm weather does linger graciously at times, though daylight slips away surprisingly quickly. In fact, night drops its curtain 2 hours earlier than mid-summer this month, and mornings are equally later in arriving. The shortening daylight sets the agenda for the month, encouraging thermometers to drop a bit more at night, and struggle to recover during the day. Trees are forced to reconsider their summer-long feast of sunshine and warmth, cutting their loses as they inform their leaves they will be let go. However, most are permitted to go in style, as the summer green fades, and their true colors show through.
Earlier evenings feature the Big Dipper sinking lower into the northwestern skies, while the broad, faint path of the Milky Way arches from northeast to southwest. The Summer Triangle lingers above, while the eastern skies are relatively absent of bright stars. Jupiter makes up for that, blazing nicely in the south, making its best appearance in decades. Otherwise, planets are challenging this month. Saturn and Mars slip into the evening twilight and are lost, and Venus - oddly at its maximum brilliance - is disappointingly low in the southwest. Mercury enjoys a morning visit for early risers during the middle and end of the month.
September Highlights:
1 - Venus, the star Spica, and Mars form a line, low in the west-southwest near 8:15 PM EDT.
6 - 1979: Former Hurricane David brought winds of 50 mph, 4.15 inches of rain to Dorset, and an unconfirmed small tornado near Rutland.
12 - 1960: Hurricane Donna tracked north through New England, from New London, CT to Rumford, ME. 6.33 inches of rain soaked Somerset, VT.
13 - The waxing Crescent Moon is the right of the red star Antares in the southwest this evening.
16 - Mercury is out for early risers, about one hand-width above the level horizon in the east, close to 5:45 AM EDT, through the 19th.
17 - 1946: Late-season warmth concluded the summer; Burlington was 84, 87, 85, and 89 through the 20th.
21 - Jupiter is at "opposition", which means it is directly opposite the Sun in our skies, rising at sunset, setting at sunrise, and out all night long.
22 - The Autumnal Equinox occurs late this evening at 11:09 PM EDT, marking the astronomical beginning of Fall.
23 - The Full "Harvest" Moon shines on through the overnight hours.
23 - 1885: The earliest general snowfall on modern record; 12 inches on Mt. Mansfield with drifts to 3 feet. Similar amounts were reported in higher elevations near Stafford, VT. Dorset noted a trace, with up to 4 inches in the mountains to the east.
30 - 1835: Snow fell along the Vermont-Quebec border to a depth of 6 to 12 inches, 6 inches in Kilkenny, NH.
30 - Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun, which means it is in the same direction in the skies as the Sun, and thus we cannot see it.
Weather Statistics for September
Warmest September: 67.8°F in 1961
Coldest September: 54.0°F in 1950
Wettest September: 8.59 inches in 1999
Driest September: 0.68 inches in 1957
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