Indian Summer

First of all, this unseasonably warm weather does not qualify for being designated as Indian Summer.  But I'm going to write about it anyway.  I mean, it was 83 degrees today.

According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, there are four criteria that have to be met for warm weather to earn the Indian Summer name.

First of all, there can't be any wind and the nights have to be chilly.  Today's winds are threatening thunderstorms, and the temperature is only going down to 66 degrees tonight.

Secondly, there has to be a moving, cool, shallow polar air mass which converts into a deep, warm, stagnant high pressure system.  That would cause it to be hazy.  Not happening.

Thirdly, timing is important.  A true Indian Summer would follow a hard frost.  That has not happened yet.

And last of all, these conditions must occur between St. Martin's Day (November 11) and November 20.  That's a month away.

So it's not Indian Summer.  That doesn't mean I can't be in love with this delightfully warm weather!  Next week, high temperatures will only be in the mid-50s, so today, I am going to sit on my porch with bare feet and no sweater, hanging on to that last bit of summer, Indian or not.  Whatever you call it, I am in love with it.