Autumn in August

 

by Pa Rock

Weather-Watcher

Summers, and in particular the month of August, are generally hot as hell in the Ozarks, and that is one of the reasons that I was particularly dismayed to hear that my Kansas grandchildren were starting school this week.   But schools today are air-conditioned, so it is no where near as bad as forty years ago when I was teaching and the only air-conditioning that most schools had was the window unit in the superintendent's office.  I used to tell the sweating students to just hang tough and things would be tolerable by the middle of September.

All of August and the first half of September were awful in the Ozarks, year after year after year.  Last summer the grass in my yard began dying in June and by August grass was uniformly brown and crackling underfoot.  I carried water for up to two hours every day in order to keep the outdoor flowers and young trees alive, and I constantly worried that the big trees in my yard, which number fifty or more, would begin dying.  Somehow everything survived.

This summer began with plenty of traditional heat in June and July, though the yard did not appear to suffer as much as it did last year, but by August a definite change was in the air.  This month has been marked by plenty of nice, slow rainfall and unseasonably mild temperatures.  Yesterday, August 15th, the midpoint of the month, the high temperature where I live was 75 degrees F.  This morning at daylight it was 58 degrees, and right now, at 11:00 a.m it is 74 degrees at my home in southern Missouri with an expected high of 80 degrees, later this afternoon.

The weather is delightful!  August in the Ozarks is suddenly autumn in the Ozarks!  And yes, I know that summer could come roaring back without much warning, but every day of this wonderful weather is one less day of traditional August heat that we won't have to endure this year.

It's closing in on noon, and there is still dew on the grass - in the middle of August!  

I'm happy with this wonderful weather, Rosie is happy and so is the guinea, and the deer look healthier than I have ever seen them at tis time of year

It feels like autumn in the Ozarks - and I am very good with that!