Don’t Crack Out The Parkas Yet

“Get out to the lake! Summer is drawing to a close!” announced the local meteorologist. The calendar might agree with that assessment, but being in the Atlanta metro area, summer goes well beyond late September.

Perhaps it was the recent cooldown with morning lows in the mid-50s that has been getting the weather professionals -- and well – the rest of us a bit too ready for fall. I would hate to burst the bubble here, but I wouldn’t exactly crack out the parkas just yet.

Yes, those morning temps and pulling the windows up at night are all well and good, but remember, we mow our lawns as late as December and as early as February around these parts.  I doubt that we’ll be hitting those freezing temps this early in the year, so it’s probably not necessary to cover those plants and turn the outside faucets off at this point.

I’m always baffled by the fact that outdoor pools shut down around Labor Day or shortly thereafter in most cases, not all cases. There’s no doubt that we experience temps in the low to mid-80s well into October. I recall plenty of times sweltering out there in the pumpkin patch.

Speaking of October, a chilly Halloween seems to be rare these days. It was about 10 years ago when I remember walking around with hot chocolate during Halloween. Perhaps there were a few slightly cooler Halloweens during this time span, but in general, it remains quite warm well into autumn. Summer seems to last well into fall and fall goes well into winter.

When it comes to winter, we pretty much missed that season in 2012. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish a heavy snowfall or worse yet, ice event to descend upon us--ever.  We proved that we will never be completely prepared for winter weather events.

It’s all quite ironic. Even though we were iced-in back in early 2011 for about one week, we experienced the longest stretch of 90-degrees –and-above-days the following summer.  During the early part of this past summer, we hit plenty of 90 degree days and even set an all-time record high. Here we are in the latter part of the year where we are receiving a beautiful cooldown.

We get what we deserve living in the South-not having to trudge through snow and outfit ourselves with thick jackets, gloves and scarves. So, the weather gets us back in the summer when the temperature gauge potentially goes well over 100. We got our comeuppance earlier this summer.

I find it amusing that the weather gurus are informing us that the lake and pool seasons are coming to a close. I’m sure there are plenty of October and even November days that are worthy of jumping into a lake, river, stream or pool. Well, now that I’ve written these thoughts down, we’ll probably have a cooler than expected autumn. Still, I’m sure the chances of that happening are as likely as snow in July.