(Flattened by a cold this week, I’m reprinting a post from last
September, with minor editing to update.)
It’s been a summer of weather extremes
in America: Droughts, heat waves, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes. Meanwhile,
here in coastal California the weather has been boring, which is a good thing.
Early morning fog, burning off to sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid
70s in the afternoon.
Even
though we’ve had a better summer than most of the country, I’m particularly
excited this week. We are now entering what I consider to be the best time of
year in Santa Cruz County — the stretch from Labor Day to Thanksgiving.
In
our Mediterranean climate we get good weather and diverse weather during that
period of nearly three months. Take the fog that has been hanging around like a
sponging house guest all summer. California’s interior valleys begin cooling
off this month. That means they’re not sucking in our marine air, which means
less fog and typically clear, sunny days.
Right
now it’s definitely summer. Overnight lows are in the 50s, and if the fog burns
off by noon or earlier, high temperatures will hit the 70s or 80s, with a
couple of days in the 90s even possible. By Thanksgiving it’s winter,
regardless of what the calendar says. Mornings will be in the high 30s or low
40s, and the daily high should be in the low 60s or high 50s.
Getting
there is half the fun. We cherish the summer days now because we know they’re
ending, The seasonal transition is more pronounced than winter to spring, and
we enjoy that as well. Leaves are beginning to turn, and that will hit its peak
in mid to late October.
Most
years we’ve gone three or four months without rain at this point, the ground is
bone dry and the grass on the hills has turned brown. We can expect the first
serious rain of the year in October and more in November — enough to turn the
hills green by Thanksgiving.
The
rain is fun those first two months because it’s a novelty and it rarely rains
steadily for days at a time as it often does from December to March. The fresh
smell after the first good rains have wet the earth and washed away the dust is
a joy. And with those first rains and shorter days come the first fireplace
fires of the season as we spend more time indoors.
It’s
not just the weather that makes this such a good time of year. This is a
tourist town, and after Labor Day, the locals get it back to some extent. The
roads are a lot less congested on weekends, and there’s elbow room at the
beaches and parks. The university is back in session, and downtown Santa Cruz
has more of a college-town feel than a tourist-town feel.
With
summer over, the pace of work typically picks up a bit, and so, with cooler air
and sunnier days, do personal energy levels. It’s even the best time of year
for sports, with football on weekends and the baseball playoffs and World
Series.
I
try to enjoy each day for itself and live in the moment as much as possible,
all year long, but these three months are special. I’ve always figured that if
I’m ever diagnosed with a terminal illness and still alive on Labor Day, I do
believe I’ll make it to Thanksgiving.
