Sep. 8—Layers on the beach. Ice cream sundaes after school. Halloween stores open on a 90-degree day. What season is it, anyway?
Most of September falls into the gap between the meteorological and astronomical changes of the season. Though meteorologists view September as the start of fall, the autumnal equinox — another mark of the season’s start — is on Sept. 22.
That leaves about three weeks of confusion, especially as temperatures fluctuate, leading two people on the same beach to give different answers just as confidently when asked, “What season are we in right now?”
As a cool breeze blew over Wells Beach on Wednesday evening, 59-year-old Debra Abel — bundled in a windbreaker and long pants — said New England is entering fall “for sure.”
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“The light is changing significantly so that always indicates to me a change in the season,” Abel said.
But a few yards away, other beachgoers dipped their toes in the water and basked in the setting sun.
Shayna Sherwood, 38, who was visiting from Vermont, held a shell up to her ear and said fall felt at least a month away.
“(Autumn is) later in October,” Sherwood argued. “The countdown to Halloween.”
Michael Clair, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Gray, said Greater Portland is likely to see weeks of warm days and chilly nights before the fall weather really sets in.
“Overall temperatures look more likely to average above normal and also be drier than normal,” Clair said. “Minus the humidity, it’ll still feel pretty summerlike at least another couple weeks.”
Meanwhile, “normal” temperatures for this time of year have been changing, with the 30-year average for September in Portland creeping up by about a degree and half per decade, from 58.7 degrees for 1971-2000 to 61.6 degrees for 1991-2020, according to weather service records. And of the 10 hottest Septembers on record (dating back to 1940), seven were in the past 10 years.
Clair added that the trees are unlikely to begin changing for the next couple of weeks and noted that peak foliage season is still more than a month away for much of southern Maine.
“Once we start to get some of these cool nights, that kind of kick-starts the trees,” Clair said.
Personally, Clair said that, while he started his morning Wednesday with a summer swim near Old Orchard Beach, he had settled into the jeans he usually reserves for autumn.
HOT ENOUGH FOR ICE CREAM
David Arnold, of South Portland, sat outside Red’s Dairy Freeze with his 3-year-old son, Freddy, taking in the sun about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Decked out in sunglasses and short sleeves, Arnold said fall felt weeks away.
“Our day care is closed today, so I can’t work, which is a very summer phenomenon,” Arnold said. “It just feels like summer today — a good day for ice cream.”
He asked Freddy if it felt like good weather for ice cream. The boy smiled wide, clapped his hands and cheered.
Families and children with backpacks meandered around the pair, discussing the first days of the school year. Though some wore flannel shirts, most stuck to lightweight tees.
But on the other side of town, at greenhouse Broadway Gardens, crates of pumpkins and stacked hay bales filled the parking lot. Manager Jody DeKubber said the fall staples came in earlier in the week and already had started to sell.
“You know it’s on when the pumpkins show up,” DeKubber said. “And it’s earlier and earlier every year.”
He said the greenhouse was starting to experience the annual a rush of shoppers looking for late-season perennials — another way he marks the end of summer.
“There’s a sense of urgency for people,” he said. “It’s the last push.”
Stepping out of the greenhouse Wednesday afternoon, Cape Elizabeth resident Deborah Sprague said it still felt like summer to her, “even with the pumpkins.” But she said fall felt close.
“To be honest, I put a fall wreath on my door today,” she said with a laugh. “I’m getting ready for fall, let’s put it that way.”
Sprague said she was preparing to host a couple dozen guests for a weekend lunch, and whether they would be eating outside or inside would depend on how summery things felt by then.
THE LAST SUMMER CROPS
At Spiller Farm in Wells, owner Anna Spiller said she’s gotten used to temperatures bouncing from highs to lows the last few weeks.
“It’s summer one day, it’s fall the next day,” Spiller said from behind the farm stand. “We could get a frost any minute, or not until October.”
Behind her, a herd of about a dozen brown and white Hereford cows mooed out for attention. Most had already started growing their thick winter fur, bracing for a change in the season, Spiller said.
Spiller said the farm opened for apple picking around Aug. 15 — about a week ahead of schedule — and that while the crowds have been steadily growing, she said most people wait until temperatures drop to even think about visiting an apple orchard.
Jeanette Sanford, 38, stopped by the farm to pick up a bag of produce as part of a community-supported agriculture program. She said the mornings and nights have felt cold enough for fall lately, even if the days disagree.
“This is like a weird in-between time. It needs a new name,” Sanford said, though she had no suggestions.
She looked inside the paper bag, filled with peaches and sweet corn. “I guess it’s still summer,” she said.
Sanford said she was looking forward to picking pumpkins and preparing for Halloween, but she planned to hold onto the summertime as long as she can.
“As a Mainer, you never want to give up the summer,” Sanford said. “It’s so precious.”
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