Fallgust?

This is a re-print of a guest article I wrote for the now defunct

Elm City Beat. 

(I'm thinking, it couldn't have been THAT bad...)

While the Blossom Blog Mainframe sifts through all the Connecticut Open photos for your enjoyment, check out this weather post from ...

Fallgust?

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

New Haven Marches to the Drumbeat of the Season

Is this Climate change New England Style? We have always been famous for temperate weather that is fleetingly fickle. But increasingly, our weather seems to go to extremes overnight. 
As chief editor of the Wooster Square Blossom Blog, 
(the Photoblogumentary of Wooster Square, its world famous Sakura Trees and everything New Haven) you begin to notice a real shift in the patterns. Seemly seasons on serious steroids, every season has bulked up bigger than the Yankee’s A-Rods Ego. Each seasonal nuance becomes increasingly intensified. You want snow? Last year we had several feet of Snow with Blizzard Nemo. Two years ago we had a winter in New Haven we came to call Snowmageddon (think lots of snow). Throw in two terrific terrible tropical trounces (ex-hurricanes Irene and Sandy) and a freak SnowtOber last year that left people without power for a week in some places each storm.  If that wasn’t enough excitement, throw in an earthquake we had in New Haven a couple of summers ago during the New Haven Open Tennis Tournament.

This summer of 2013 is/was no different. We had “MonsJune” when we had 11.32 inches of rain here in the Elm City. More than twice the amount of rain fell in 36 hours (5 inches) than in Dry-ly, where only 2.07 inches fell (you get the picture). Last month we came to what I will call “Fallgust”. Friends had mentioned to me if I have noticed the leaves turning already on some trees. Blindly speculating that because of the recent cool snap the trees instantly turn lively luring leaves of chlorophyll-less color, or really some underlying color that stands out when the green chlorophyll disappears. But actually it is the shorter day that “tells” the trees when to start shutting down their food production line. The days do not have less than 24 hours (it just seems that way since your smartphone sucked all the free time out of your life) in Fallgust, just fewer hours of light. Throw in a myriad of factors like heat, rainfall, drought, and flooding makes predicting the fantastic fall foliage and the winter weather about as tough as predicting when Wooster Square’s world famous Cherry trees will be in full bloom. 

Using some Mid-Western and New England folklore, I rely on the sure fire weather predictors. Wooster Square Squirrels are on the skinny side. There is no furious searching for nuts. Make no mistake, our Super Square Squirrels are Phat, just not bulking up for winter. The Farmer’s Almanac says that when acorns that have thicker husks, we will have a hard winter. I can attest that.  The fall before Snowmagedon, large acorns were dropping at a pace that in the park that  sounded as if you were in a hailstorm at a car dealership.  This year’s crop of future mighty oak trees(acorns) are just plain average. Not overly big or husky. 

So far this year, I have not encountered another winter weather wives tale, the Wooly Worm. The black and brown caterpillars of the tiger moth are everyone’s favorite weather forecaster since Punxsutawney Phil (ground hog day).  When the middle brown band is thin, or the front black band is longer, expect a cold and snowy winter. Studies in the 1950’s by the Natural Museum of History in New York City showed the worm with 80% accuracy. Since I have not seen one in and around New Haven yet, I am assuming that they are all mostly brown. Optimism doesn’t hurt either!

No matter how or what you forecast, the seasons change, along with the weather. Take time to get outdoors and enjoy all the Elm City has to offer before we settle inside by a crackling fire. Fall is the perfect time to stroll the shops, indulge in our restaurants and explore the city’s world famous Museums or grab your favorite pie (pizza) and picnic in Wooster Square.  With cooler sunny dry weather, baseball pennants heating up and Football starting, what is not to like?  I am going to call this (coming) month SweeTEMber! 


Editors Note: We had the winter from the opposite
of hell. Coldest and Snowiest in the Northeast in 35 years. So much for my skinny squirrels and large acorns. This year, same deal. No tell tale signs. 

For now, I'll stick to predicting when our 

Sweet Sakura Stars Shine (Cherry Blossoms) 

pop here in World Famous Wooster Square.

Up next, The Wooster Square Blossom Blogs to the Nifty, New, New Haven, Connecticut Open!

Petra Kvitiva

2014 Connecticut Open Champion

Until Then...

See You Round the Square!