70 this morning. 96 this afternoon. If that does not explain September in the Carolinas, nothing will.
Labor Day has come and gone. Around here, that is supposed to mean summer is over.
Somebody forgot to tell the thermometer.
This morning started in the wonderful 70s. By afternoon, the forecast is pushing 96. That is this time of year here in a sentence: a porch-coffee morning followed by an air-conditioning afternoon.
September in the Carolinas and southern Appalachians has a rhythm all its own. It is not really summer anymore, at least not in the way June and July feel like summer. But it is not fall yet, either. This year, astronomical fall does not arrive until the evening of September 22.
These few weeks in between deserve their own name.
Friday Night Lights Come Back On
One of the surest signs that the season is changing has nothing to do with leaves.
It is the glow from a high school football field on a Friday evening.
Across small towns throughout the region, families start gathering in the stands again. Bands warm up. Concession stands open. Kids run around behind the bleachers. People who graduated from the same school decades ago show up wearing the same colors they wore when they were teenagers.
It can still be plenty warm at kickoff, but somehow football under the lights makes it feel like fall is already on its way.
The Sweaters Start Moving Forward
Then comes that first cool morning.
Not cold. Not even close. Just cool enough that you remember there are clothes in the closet with sleeves.
The sweaters and hoodies start migrating toward the front again. You put one on at seven in the morning and feel pretty good about your decision.
By two in the afternoon, you are carrying it around while the air conditioner is running.
That is September here.
Cool enough in the morning to make you believe. Warm enough by lunch to remind you not to get carried away.
Coffee Finally Makes Sense Again
Coffee tastes different when the porch is not already ninety degrees before breakfast.
There is something about that first slightly cool September morning when a hot cup of coffee stops feeling like an act of defiance against the weather and starts feeling right again.
The air is different. The light changes a little. Maybe you sit outside five minutes longer than you did in August.
It is a small thing, but those small things are usually how seasons really arrive.
And Then There Is Pumpkin Spice
Of course, there are always a few unfortunate people who take one cool morning as official permission to make absolutely everything taste like pumpkin spice.
Coffee. Cookies. Cereal. Candles. Probably something that had no business being pumpkin flavored in the first place.
We will let them enjoy themselves.
The rest of us can wait for the weather to cooperate.
The Mountains Start Giving Hints
Peak color is still ahead, but if you pay attention, the landscape starts giving little previews.
A single red tree appears against a green ridge. A few leaves turn at the edge of the yard. The mornings carry just enough coolness to make you start thinking about mountain drives, fire pits, fairs and weekends outside.
This is the anticipation part of the season.
We are not surrounded by fall color yet. We are watching for it.
Enjoy the Leaves While They Are Still on the Trees
This is also the point in the year when everybody starts talking about how beautiful the leaves are going to be.
Homeowners know there is another chapter coming.
In a few weeks, some of those same beautiful leaves will be covering the yard, the driveway, the gutters and every place you just cleaned the day before.
Right now we admire them.
Later we will be standing there with a rake wondering exactly how many trees one property really needs.
That is a problem for another day.
A Season Between Seasons
Maybe that is why this little stretch of September is worth noticing.
Nothing has fully changed yet, but everything is starting to.
Football is back. The mornings are better. The sweaters are waiting. Coffee belongs on the porch again. The mountains are beginning to hint at what is coming. Even the leaves we will eventually complain about are still something to look forward to.
Summer has loosened its grip, but fall has not quite taken over.
For a few weeks, we get to live in the middle.
And maybe the middle deserves a season of its own.
What do you call this time of year where you live? False fall? Second summer? Hoodie morning and air-conditioning afternoon? Whatever you call it, we would like to hear it.