Fittingly, A Maybe Last Surge of Summer Warmth For Labor Day Weekend

Some of the leaves on this sugar maple tree in
my St. Albans, Vermont yard are already starting
to turn. Fall is coming.  

It hasn't exactly been the hottest summer ever in the eastern two thirds of the United States, though the West Coast has certainly been torrid enough.

It hasn't exactly been The Year Without A Summer, either, as in most places, temperatures have averaged near to only a little below normal.

We've had (almost) our share of summer, which is a good thing.

In the aforementioned eastern half of the nation, summer will make one of its final stands during the Labor Day weekend, which is fitting, since it's unofficially the close of summer for many people.

The warmth and in many cases the humidity will last into next week.

There have been unsettling signs of fall lately. Unsettling, at least, for people who like nice long summers and have an aversion to cold weather.

It snowed on Pikes Peak yesterday. which isn't THAT unusual. But still.

Where I live in Vermont, yesterday wasn't exactly cold, but mostly cloudy skies, a stiff north wind and temperatures that sank into the 60s during the afternoon certainly felt like autumn.

It didn't help that some of the more sickly sugar maple trees in my yard have started to turn color.

Up here in Vermont, we call those kind of conditions "Fair weather." Not because it's fair and sunny. It's because county and state fairs have their peak season in late August.  Often, those who go to these fairs enjoy weather that's not quite as warm as it is in the height of summer, but not quite as chilly as autumn, either.

So we call conditions on days like yesterday fair weather. Yep, add "fair season" to the other miscellaneous seasons we have up here, like foliage season and mud season.

But, as I said, autumn isn't winning yet. Where it's not that warm in the eastern half of the nation, it will become so. We won't be breaking any records, but it will definitely be great for you warm weather fans.

Unfortunately for some of us who wilt in the humidity, it will be muggy all the way into the Great Lakes and northern New England.

And many of these areas won't have wall to wall sunshine, either. Thunderstorms and showers are a good bet over the weekend, especially along the Gulf Coast and in the Great Lakes Saturday, and in a band from the southern and central Mississippi Valley to New England Sunday.

In most of those places, it won't rain constantly over the weekend, but the threat for showers and storms, some with heavy rain, will be there much of the time.

And as I said, it will definitely be humid. That'll curl your hair.

Eventually, autumn will win out. So savor these last few summer days.