Google celebrates the fall and spring equinox with weather-themed Doodles

Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Google is welcoming the arrival of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere with a pair of weather-themed Doodles.

For users living north of the equator, Google's homepage displays an animated short featuring the company's familiar mouse character playfully jumping into a patch of leaves before returning to his underground home to sip on a warm cup of tea.

For those living south of the equator, Google features a similar animated short with the mouse picking a yellow flower from outside to decorate his home.

During the equinox, which occurs on Friday despite meteorologists using Sept. 1 to mark the start of fall for record keeping purposes, day and night are balanced to last 12 hours each all over the world, noted The Weather Channel.

In June, Google used the same mouse character to welcome the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.