Here around the 45th parallel, the high temperatures are expected to drop into the upper 50s today after a high in the mid to upper 70s on Wednesday, the last full day of summer.
The autumnal equinox is supposed to occur right after 8 p.m. tonight in this neck of the woods, and for the next six months the days will be shorter than the nights, barely noticeable at first and then darker as we approach winter. The only good news about the first day of winter is that the days start regaining a few minutes back daily even as the cold gets colder.
I am a big fan of summer, but I’m fond of fall and spring, too. Autumn is OK because the hot and muggy days of summer are behind us, but the cool weather is not yet bone-chilling, and spring is OK because the bone-chilling is behind us and the green comes easing back. It’s only in winter that I wish my modest book sales would start sprouting extra zeros so we could buy that second home somewhere where freezing weather is just something you read about or see on TV.
For now, though, here we sit on the cusp between seasons, a cold front ushering summer out the door rather brusquely if I say so myself. The switch is not usually quite so dramatic, but what are ya gonna do, it is what it is, and a dozen more cliches that people use when they’re making small talk about the weather.
So here we are entering autumn, and who knows what happens next? The only thing that’s certain is the green leaves will turn to brown, we might get a few inches of snow by the end of the year, and life goes on. That’s something.