Low clouds were slow to burn off Wednesday, resulting in lower high temperatures. Any complaints? Afternoon highs still made it into the low 80s. Enjoy it while you can. Much warmer temperatures today and hot Friday — into the 90s — with some offshore winds and the heat low moving up from California.
There are 12 full days of summer left after today but the weather next week looks to be cool and wet. Just how much is still up in the air now. The autumnal equinox occurs at 1:21 a.m. locally Sept. 23.
Autumn is my favorite time of the year, cooler weather, brilliant colors, stillness in the air, and of course, perhaps a few good storms to watch. I know we have had many trees show their autumn colors rather early, but we know that is due to stress from the record-breaking warm and dry summer.
Some years the leaves seem to hang on forever, well into November. Reminds me an old weather proverb, “If autumn leaves are slow to fall, prepare for a cold winter.” Well, I don’t know about that one. Sometimes we just don’t get a lot of wind until later, on which would assist in de-leafing the trees. Also a good frost will accelerate the falling leaves. The average first frost isn’t until November for the greater Vancouver area and generally mid-October for the outlying areas of the county.
