Time to close up shop
I am sure you have noticed the loss of daylight as our evenings and mornings have lost a good bit of daylight.
As the sun sets earlier and rises later this translates into less heat and in a couple of weeks the danger of frost will become part of our weather forecasts.
In Uniontown the earliest 32-degree temperature was observed on September 14, 1985. Our coldest morning in September occurred on the 25th of 1983 when the temperature dropped to 29 degrees.
Many years frosty mornings hold off until well into October. September is a pleasant weather month in our area and October is usually a continuation of the nice weather but about 10 degrees cooler than September.
In the weather business there are always exceptions and on October 3, 1974 snow fell across Uniontown and all of Southwestern Pennsylvania, whitening car and home rooftops and grassy areas. In the mountains two inches of snow was measured at Chalk Hill and high mountain tops even had a few slippery spots.
A walk in our woods or a drive at this time of the year makes for a beautiful experience. The noisy cicadas will be finishing up their mating and the fluttering of our butterflies will dissipate as they pack up and head to Florida and Mexico for the winter.
My favorites are the hummingbirds who have visited our hanging flower baskets. Their wings just never seem to tire and next year when they return they will often visit the same locations where they spent time this season. They usually leave our part of Pennsylvania around the end of September and begin their journey to Florida and California.
The crickets will also be looking for a warm place and frequently will seek shelter and hibernate in our sheds, wood piles, under garbage cans, pavers and in garages.
Another of my favorites is the woolly bear caterpillars who also stay in the area and seek warm places to spend the winter. They are also known for their ability to forecast the upcoming winter season and folklore says that the more black the harsher the winter and the more brown the milder the upcoming season.
Our hillsides and woods are also getting ready for the coming of the colder weather. Yellow goldenrod flowers cover many of our hillsides and the bees love them. Lavender Joe Pye is another beauty and with all the rain and sun this summer many are over eight feet tall and again loved by the bees.
The best part of fall is the changing tree colors and Mother Nature is planning our fall spectacular that usually starts in early to mid-October and lasts into early November. Mountain areas, being cooler, are about two weeks ahead of lower elevations and city areas sometimes hold their colors until mid-November.
In the woods, Mother Nature is busy preparing to shut down the factory and in so doing she will allow the chlorophyll production to slow down as the days get shorter and colder. This will allow the red, yellow, orange and russet colors to become dominate as the green diminishes and fades.
The interesting thing about the changing of the leaf color is that all these colors are present during the growing season, however the chlorophyll process produces so much green that it hides all the other colors until the days begin to shorten from decreased sunshine.
This is great time of the year to enjoy the beauty of Southwestern Pennsylvania and experience the fall spectacular.