First Real Autumn Cold Front Came Through Sunday To Help Us Flip The Calendar

A last blast of summer sun as an autumn-like cold front
approached St. Albans Bay, Vermont late Sunday afternoon.

 Sure, I've already unofficially declared summer over, but if you want to really mark the change of seasons, look for what I consider the first autumn cold front of the season.  

It's the one above all cold fronts that mark the real shift of seasons. It's the one that convinces you that summer is really over. 

This year's First Cold Front Of Autumn came through Sunday evening, at least in my opinion.  These autumn fronts are sort of an annual rite of passage, if you will. 

Oh, sure, we'll have a few more days in which temperatures will feel like summer. But the consistent heat of summer now feels like a thing of the past. 

The result of yesterday's cold front  is a crisp Labor Day today, with highs only in the 60s, perfect to hunt apples at your friendly area orchard. Tonight, the first frost advisories of the season go into effect in the Adirondacks and far corners of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, way up by Island Pond, Canaan and Bloomfield. Those are traditional Vermont cold spots anyway. 

The timing of this year's autumn cold front was exquisite. Right during the Labor Day weekend, which most people consider the unofficial end of summer anyway.  Most of Sunday was hard core summer, with temperatures going right up there into the 80s with moderately high humidity. A lovely beach day. 

Until the cold front arrived in northern Vermont very late in the afternoon and evening. 

Up at St. Albans Bay, the first cool breezes arrived well before the darkest clouds and showers came through. The wind abruptly shifted from southwest to northwest, creating some confused looking waves on the lake. 

As the temperature dropped through the 80s and 70s, the line at the creemee stand across the street got shorter and shorter. A few brief final bursts of sun caused the trees and the algae-filled bay to briefly glow tropical green, as if summer was trying in vain to hang on. 

Clouds, dropping temperatures and showers put an end
to a possibly last summer weather day of the year in
St. Albans Bay, Vermont Sunday. 

The clouds coming in were a summer/autumn hybrid too. Some towered up into those puffy thunderheads, typical of summer. But those were quickly replaced by the bland overcast of the colder seasons as the rain approached. 

After fairly brief, sort of heavy rain showers,  the front passed, and a last burst of now cool evening sun burst through, setting off dramatic rainbows. The rainbows almost like a fireworks display of sorts, saying goodbye to Summer, 2024. 

There's a decent chance that the 86 degree temperature we saw in Burlington Sunday could be the warmest we'll see until May or even June if next spring proves chilly. 

More cold fronts will come in now through winter, bringing ever colder blasts of air as we go through the season. 

For this week, those of us outside the cold hollows will awaken to an autumn like Tuesday morning in which most of us will see dawn temperatures between 38 and 48 degrees.

Tuesday will be another bright, cool-ish day.  Later in the week, it'll try to warm up again almost toward summer levels. But another front and or storm system should cut that balmy air off at the pass.  Next weekend's weather still looks uncertain, but early hints suggest more cool, showery weather by then.  

Still, September is usually a pretty pleasant weather month. The heat of summer is mostly over, but there's still plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors before nasty winter weather hits in a few months. 

Video: Footage of a change of seasons, mostly taken at St. Albans Bay on Sunday. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.