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| Autumn pond, woods, and very red maple |
You wouldn't have expected from the way the month started out that October's average high would be normal (but it was). Nine of the first eleven days of the month recorded highs so much above normal (12-23
⁰) as to be downright scary---especially when coupled with the news of the latest U.N report on climate change.
Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040. Five of those eleven days had temperatures
19-23⁰ above normal; four had temperatures 12-15
⁰ above; one day was 7
⁰ above, and one a modest 4
⁰ above normal.
Then came a big change that plummeted us into a real Autumn chill. The remaining twenty days were mostly below the normal high (but nothing so extreme as those first eleven days). Ten of the twenty days had high temperatures that were significantly below the normal high (8-16
⁰). During the second half of the month, we had had the first frost, and then we had four more, interspersed with four hard freezes.
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| ...A cozy fire to keep us warm... |
Lots of people around here complain about the cold weather. (Many of them are the ones who dress in thin jackets and flip-flops to go to the grocery store although the temperature is in the 40's.) But when the first frost and freeze come, Ann and I happily stack up the firewood and break out the mulled cider.
Freezing temperatures normally signal the end of the growing season, but no one seems to have told the grass that. Despite the freezes, the growing grass has been aided and abetted by another month of higher than normal rainfall. Although only 1/2" above the norm, this month's extra rainfall came on the heels of a way-too-wet September. The additional moisture was NOT needed!
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| Frosty zinnia |
One thing all the extra moisture did, coupled, of course, with the heat of September and early October, was to retard the development of fall color in the trees. (Fall color is happening later which is additional evidence for a changing climate; last year we didn't see significant change before mid-November!) This year the leaves finally began changing and falling significantly during the last week of the month. In the spring, I always think there's nothing more magical and beautiful than the flowering trees, but then the fall color change comes, and I think there's nothing more magical and beautiful. Nature IS grand, which is why we should be as good care-takers of her as we can each possibly be.
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| Boo! |
Another October nature sight is the brief reappearance of my favorite field bird, the red-wing blackbird. The red-wings leave the early part of August for points north, then stop by for a couple of days before heading south where they'll stay until February. We used to see them gather by the hundreds, perching on the tops of the trees in the woods, but the last three years, only a few dozen stop on the way south. I want to believe the others have just found a better food supply, and that these few are the ones really grateful for the care I took of them over the summer who wanted to give a "Thanks and see ya in the Spring" whistle. Nature is also bittersweet.
October colors in the Jersey Woods
