This has been one hot week. Again.
Temperatures have been flirting with record highs both in the valleys and on the mountaintops all week. Hot by any measure, but that kind of heat feels even warmer when it comes this late in October. Surely we don’t need our winter clothes just yet. Some of us are even showing remnant shades of our mid-summer tans. You with the bikini lines, you know who you are.
It looks like we are in for a continuation of the warm weather that will bring us sunshine and highs in the low 60s for the rest of this week. It is what I call an “Indian Summer,” and there are few things in the world that feel as good as an October heat wave.
I clarified the description above by noting that “I” refer to this warmup as an Indian Summer. In looking at historical and official references to what actually constitutes an Indian Summer, there would likely be some disagreement.
To some weather purists, an Indian Summer requires seven days of temperatures above 70 degrees after the first frost to qualify as official. And I don’t think we have seen any frost on the proverbial pumpkins as of yet. Others say that the Indian Summer is strictly a Northeast phenomenon and that the rest of the country just gets warm. Pretty provincial, I would say.
Regardless of what they call it, the feel of the sun on your face and the crackle of the leaves beneath your feet as you shuffle through a warm October afternoon is priceless. And, this year in particular, the feast of color in the stands of aspens and on the cottonwood trees has been monumental. I think many of us were concerned that, with the drought conditions and the intense heat of summer, we would be having a tepid season for colors. But, to the contrary, the yellow and orange foliage under the cobalt skies has been as good as any I remember. Maybe I’m just being a Pollyanna.
Indian Summer brings with it a sense of melancholy, perhaps related to the loss of the preceding summer or the onset of the coming winter — or just the changing times that are unique to the autumnal season. Fall is the time of year for college football (the Buffs and Rams both have lost three straight games), the World Series (if there is a game 7 it will be on Halloween Night) and the election contests (I bet you can’t wait for those to end). It is the season of Halloween, hunting and turning the clocks back an hour.
It is also the time of year around here that belongs to us. Parking is easy. Traffic is down. I was on a flight into town last week that had more empty seats than people on the plane. This is the season when we exchange the tourists for bears. Everything becomes much more mellow. Even the red ants lose their bite.
Of course, with any luck at all, this will change, and the first flakes of winter will replace the Indian Summer heat. October is traditionally the month when we get the first snowstorm of the season. We got one last year, and then the heat returned. How many of you have winterized your houses? Put the snow tires on? Turned on the heat tape? Got your skis tuned? Well, it may be a little early for all of that, but Mother Nature will hopefully do her part in reminding us that the dogs of winter are not far from nipping at our heels.
The sun will warm you up this week. Call it Indian Summer or whatever you like. Just be sure to enjoy it.
Source: www.aspentimes.com
