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Vienna says goodbye to summer as the calendar autumn officially arrives — but the weather isn’t quite ready to play along.
Vienna is preparing to bid farewell to summer, as the calendar autumn officially begins in Austria overnight. According to the astronomical calendar, autumn starts on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at exactly 2:05 AM.
At that moment, the sun reaches the autumn equinox point, when day and night are roughly equal in length. With that, the warm season comes to an end in the early hours of the morning from an astronomical perspective.
Meteorologically, however, autumn has already been underway since September 1.
Autumn Begins September 23 at 2:05 AM
The calendar — or astronomical — start of autumn does not fall on exactly the same date every year. In 2026, it lands on September 23. At 2:05 AM, the sun reaches the autumn point, with day and night approximately equal in length.
The meteorological autumn, by contrast, follows a fixed calendar. It begins every year on September 1 and lasts until November 30.
Vienna Remains Mild for Now
There is little sign of classic autumn weather in Vienna at first.
Tonight, temperatures will drop to around 13 degrees Celsius. Wednesday will be friendlier. After about 12 degrees in the morning, temperatures could reach up to 19 degrees in the afternoon, with predominantly sunny weather expected.
On Thursday, the sky will be variably cloudy again. According to forecasts, the likelihood of showers will increase in the second half of the day.
Why Autumn Doesn’t Begin on the Same Day Every Year
The calendar start of autumn is based on the so-called autumn equinox, when day and night are approximately equal in length. Because the Earth does not take exactly 365 days to orbit the sun, the timing shifts from year to year.
The meteorological autumn, on the other hand, is simpler to define. For weather statistics, the seasons are each divided into three full months. Autumn therefore always comprises September, October, and November.
Three Different Definitions of the Start of Autumn
In addition to the meteorological and calendar autumn, there is also the phenological autumn. This is based on changes in nature and begins at different times depending on the region.
Indicators include certain developmental phases of plants. When phenological autumn begins therefore depends more heavily on the respective weather and region.
For Vienna, this means: meteorologically, autumn has already been here since September 1. On the calendar, the start falls in the night of September 23, 2026. In terms of weather, however, the change is initially only tentative.
- source: vienna.at/picture: pixabay.com
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