Friday, November 07, 2008

The Real Deal

From Wikipedia

Indian summer is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. Usually occurring after the first frost, Indian summer can be in September, October, or early November in the northern hemisphere ...

Modern ideas on what an Indian summer constitutes vary, but the most widely accepted value for determining whether an Indian summer is occurring is that the weather must be above 21°C (70°F) for seven days after the autumnal equinox ...

In former times in Europe, Indian summer was called Saint Martin's Summer, referring to St. Martin's day, November 11, when it was supposed to end. In British English "St. Martin's Summer" was the most widely used term until the American phrase Indian Summer became better known in the 20th century ...

While we tend to use the phrase Indian Summer as a descriptor for any clement weather in late October to early November, I said to someone today that this is the genuine article. In yesterday's mentioned that I walked sans jacket on Wednesday. Yesterday (Thursday), I actually put on shorts, and I wasn't really pushing the envelope; I did it because I was hot. I highly doubt that it will last for seven days, and I don't know whether we officially hit 21°C (70°F) today, but according to my body temperature and the car thermometer we did, and that's good enough for me. Besides, who in the world is going to quibble over only reaching 20.5 degrees if that were the case, and who made up the rule about it needing to last for seven days? The exact number simply isn't the point. The point is that it's been an incredible few days here. Don't forget we've had any number of hard frosts and even a snow storm, so we certainly meet all reasonable criteria.

In point of fact, I don't recall anything like this kind of weather this late in Autumn. Of course, I barely recall my firstborn's name ... or the fact that this blog is called Drainspots ... or is it Brainrots?

11 comments:

Pearl said...

yes, I'm luxurating in this heat. We can take this straight thru to new years.

Simply Coll said...

Better enjoy it while you can A/C. :-) We are being hit by a Colorado Low as I type. Winter has arrived here in Southern Manitoba with a vengence. :-)

Janet said...

We've been in the 70s all week too (40s at night). All that is going to change tomorrow.

Ruth said...

The last few days have been glorious. I hope I can store up the sunshine for the grey days ahead. We rarely get 7 consecutive days of weather sameness in Canada!

Amanda said...

I just call it an Indian summer and i wish we could have one too!
I love your new look AC.

ChrisB said...

Well I've learned something today and how I wish we were having an Indian Summer!

mreddie said...

Wow, I thought it would have been much cooler there. It went up to 80F here today but is supposed to drop off to the upper 60s tomorrow. We have still only had two light frosts this season - not unusual down here though. ec

Kila said...

We had the few days of warmth earlier this week, too. Was wonderful. Today was much cooler, in the 40's, and rainy--blech!

Donna said...

Good for ya'll!! I'm just glad you're not out shoveling...snow yet!! Happy weekend!!hughugs

Lorna said...

call it what you will, I love it.

Woman in a Window said...

And I did my happy clap today because it snowed!