I know, but I believe it is worth pointing out for a subset of people.
The unusually cool summer this year has continued, except for early spring and a brief burst of heat about a week ago. The last couple of days saw two milestone moments – I gave the lawnmowing kid an extra large tip because I suspect I won’t need him again until spring, and this morning I briefly turned on the electric heater in the bedroom. Soon it will be time to tie down the cover on the central A/C outside, and switch the HVAC system from “cooling” to “heating”. Not just yet, but maybe two to three weeks. The “H” part of “HVAC” may not actually turn on for a month or two, but that’s the mode it will soon need to be in. You southern 'Murricans may need to soon start sending me stories about how hot things are down there to help keep me warm! 
Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
It finally rained this week, and today the high will be less than 80 degrees. Perhaps the long hot summer is over, as the forecast is for highs in the 70s and low 80s for the next 10 days.
Rotate your tires.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
I’m beginning to think that I’m never going to get the deck painted before it snows. It. Just. Won’t. Stop. Raining.
I don’t know if this part of the state is one that’s gotten three times as much rain this summer as is typical, or only twice as much.
These folks thought this August was a bit much. And they’re experts.
I have no doubt of it whatsoever (that it was the hottest August on record globally). The fact that it was unusually cool around here this summer seems to portend some kind of disaster in the offing, but I have no idea what it might be. Seasonal temperatures tend to average out on an annual basis in any given area, except for the incremental effects of global warming. The “annual-average” argument would seem to suggest a warmer than average upcoming winter, but who knows.
All I know for sure is that if I count on a warm winter with little snow and decline this season’s snowplowing contract, I will be hit with ten feet of snow in my driveway before December. The news media will all be crowing about “unprecedented snowfall”, and I’ll be drinking the last of whatever alcohol I have, and subsisting on beans and potato chips until the next thaw.
Report from the Great White North. Neighbours are preparing their pools for the winter. The lawnmowing that was done last week is likely the last for the season. The leaves haven’t started to turn yet but they soon will. In about two weeks I’ll be putting the cover on the A/C and switching the mode to “heating”, though actual heating probably won’t happen until late October at the earliest.
There are actually many things I love about winter, but there’s always something a little sad about the end of summer, even if it’s nothing more than a marker of the inevitable passage of time.
This reminds me of a classic bit by W.C. Fields that goes roughly like:
We were on safari in darkest Africa. A lion ate our corkscrew and we had to subsist on food and water for several days. {delicate shudder}. Horrible.
Here on the front range of Colorado the summer has been amazing and mild. I think we only had one week of HOT weather (95+ F, compared to typically 3-4 weeks), my water bill has been low and my yard has never looked better in my 17 years in this house and the 10 years in the previous. On the negative side my trees produced 0 peaches this year (too cold in June but no late freeze) and the tomato crop sucks (if they even ripen), but everything else has been amazing (oh my god, the eggplants!).
Like you I don’t know what this portends, but deep down I bet we are going to get some crazy fires in the next year due to all the growth this year and knowing we can’t keep having wet conditions like this. I live right at the base of the foothills of the Rockies and the winter before last 4 different families we are friends with lost their houses in the Marshall fire…
I did go camping this weekend and it was one for the record books. September in Colorado is a thing of magic and legend.
I’m so jealous of you guys! Our lawn is brown. It hasn’t rained significantly at our house in over two months. We had about 10 minutes a week ago, when the rest of Houston got drenched! Still no rain expected this week. At least the temperature is lower, around 94°F.
I want fall, dammit!
I do feel kind of guilty, though, because our cooler than normal summer was caused by something Cheryl Scott (ABC7 Weather) called a, “Rex Block”. Unfortunately for our southern neighbors, what Rex was blocking was the very hot air down south from moving through our area. This caused the heat to build up to extremely high temperatures.
Sorry, guys, but Rex is my friend. LOL
That is why you always carry a Swiss Army knife. Those things can save your life. in more ways than one.
We’re back to near-record high temps here in south-central Kansas. Highs have been in the low 90s for the past several days, and we are again experiencing drought conditions.
I am very ready for Autumn. If it should ever arrive.
One year ago, 100% of California was in some sort of drought, moderate to very severe. Now it’s just 6.47% of the state.
Since it’s exactly two weeks since I made that awesome prediction, allow me to now revise it! Tomorrow the temperature will hit 27ºC (81ºF) with the humidex of 32ºC making it feel like 90ºF. I knew something like this would happen after an unusually cool summer. This is the time of year when trees should be shedding their leaves as they feel the cold, not the time of year when humidex numbers are being quoted and air conditioners are roaring all over the place! Climate change is turning the weather upside down. Still, a cooler summer than normal and maybe a warmer fall and winter ain’t so bad.
To be fair, tomorrow’s high is a one-day event and there will be gradual cooling over the week, though mostly still well above normal.
The present moderate El Nino is probably contributing, too. El Nino is considered to be occurring when the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) shows a sea surface temperature departure from nominal in a particular indicator region of +0.5ºC or more. The most recent ONI measured over the summer is +1.1ºC and is on an upward trend, and is expected to continue at least until March, 2024.
Ha! The forecast has changed. It’s no longer predicted to hit 27ºC (81ºF) today, which would have tied the high-temperature record for October 3. Instead, it’s predicted to hit 28ºC (82.4ºF) which is a new all-time record for this date. And furthermore will continue through tomorrow.
All at a time when all good Canucks have traditionally been sensing the onset of cold and starting to collect firewood and, like the good squirrel-like creatures that we are, beginning to stockpile nuts for the winter. This weather is just silliness.