First day of fall on Long Island brings pleasant weather

Welcome to the first day of fall, which brings expectations for sunny skies, light winds and above normal highs in the mid to upper 70s.

Clear skies at night, too, are forecast, with light winds, and overnight lows in the 50s, the National Weather Service said.

"Some beach weather to start fall with temperatures above normal and dry conditions," said News 12 meteorologist Rich Hoffman.

Wednesday's autumnal equinox, which arrived shortly before 4:30 a.m., also means that the hours of day and night are just about equal, with daylight starting to get shorter as we approach winter.

Conditions for Thursday are expected to be similar, mostly sunny and a couple of degrees warmer, according to the News 12 Long Island weather page.