Time To Declare Peak Summer Over

About this time every year, I get the sense that the Vermont summer's days are numbered.

A pretty sky over Williston, Vermont after low clouds finally
cleared Wednesday. For some reason, I associate this kind
of sky more with early autumn, not summer. 

I've gotten that sense over the past couple of days. I declare high summer over. 

Don't worry, summer-like weather is not gone until next year.  We'll still have our share of warm, humid days. There might even be another spell or two of 90 degree weather thrown in there between now and the middle of September. Plenty of pleasant days await us between now and winter. 

But it's time to put a fork in summer.  It's now what us Vermonters call "Fair Weather. 

Most people think of fair weather as blue skies dotted with puffy clouds and pleasant temperatures. And that's a top characteristic of Vermont's "Fair Weather." season

In the Green Mountain State, and I'm sure in other places, fair weather corresponds to the time of year in late summer and early autumn when all the county fairs roll into town.  It's the bridge season between summer and autumn.

Fair weather is characterized as conditions that don't exactly feel like mid-summer, but it's still warm.  Too warm to regard temperatures as "autumnal." It's something in between.  On the Midway at the fair, you're down to a t-shirt and sweating a little in the afternoon, but you'll need a sweater or fleece for the nighttime grandstand show. 

Being a person who focuses on all the subtle change of seasons,  I'm seeing all the signs  that high summer has ended.  

I noticed it on Tuesday, and especially Wednesday, when the now waning summer sun was not strong enough to overcome an inversion that put us under some relatively cool low clouds and fog.

When the low clouds finally cleared Wednesday afternoon, the sky had that late summer/early autumn character of broken clouds, but not the billowy, towering kind you see in mid summer. 

Showers bubble up in the distance Thursday as viewed from 
Georgia, Vermont.  Storm clouds in late summer to me often
don't look as vigorous as they do in mid summer, and
these clouds are an example of that. 

A couple of lines of showers and thunderstorms passed through Vermont Thursday, but they lacked the oomph you see with these things in say, July.  

Mid-summer cold fronts are lame things; you don't even notice when they pass through. Last evening's cold front brought a quick gusty, chilly shower, followed by cool north breezes. The air obviously changed.  Felt like a September cold front to  me. 

During the height of summer, temperatures usually hit at least 80 degrees in the afternoon. Such warmth begins to become less likely after mid-Auguts.

 According to the latest forecasts, we probably won't see 80 degree readings again for at least a week. 

I've often seen it cool off in the middle of August in Vermont only to return at least briefly to mid-summer heat toward the end of the month or around Labor Day.

Chances are that will happen again this year. Especially since the climate is warmer than it was decades ago. 

I remember at least one August (1982) when it snowed on the ski slopes of Killington. I've also seen frost in August (1965 and 1976) That kind of thing is not going to happen this year! 

So, don't put those air conditioners away just yet. Keep those swim suits and that sun screen handy. The peak of summer is over, but that doesn't mean summer weather is that far way. At least for now.