Ahh it’s September!

Smoke? Of course. The brush is just the right level of crispy and the wildfires are ready to go. It’s too hot for an indoor fire but the grills are still going and the chiles are here!

Breezes? Definitely. Except they’re more likely to be hot and dry rather than cool and crisp. No sweaters needed here and don’t put away that sunscreen yet. There’s Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream to make up for the lack of chilly air.

The winter coats are on sale, even in places where winter coats are rarely used. The school supplies were bought in August. Everywhere I look fall is on sale. Except I don’t have that kind of September where I live. There are no oak trees dropping acorns, or maples glowing like fire in the autumn light here. In fact, the only time I had that type of autumn was when I lived in Germany. Now that was gorgeous, there were leaf strewn roads everywhere and the forests bloomed for a second season. The weather turned crisp and clear before the rains of November moved in. That isn’t quite the way I’ve experienced fall anywhere else.

I grew up in southern California. Fall was fire season because it was Santa Ana Wind season. The smell of smoke on the breeze wasn’t comforting. But I loved the wind. I still love a wind that grabs my papers and tries to turn everything into a kite. When I was a kid, I would run with my jacket spread out behind me like a sail. The wind would push and push, as infatigable as the rolling waves on the Pacific shore. It felt like I could fly, if only I was a bit faster. I didn’t expect falling leaves. Live Oaks don’t drop their leaves in the fall. I didn’t hope for frost on a pumpkin. Frost was rare and that was a good thing because it killed the plants and hurt my favorite trees, orange trees. I didn’t actually see local ice in the wild until I was nearly 14. I wasn’t disappointed that there were no corn mazes because I didn’t know they existed. The Septembers of my childhood were hot, dry and windy.

In between then and now, I have lived in western Germany, S.E. Texas, the gulf coast of Mississippi, western Nevada, western Washington, & northwestern Chicagoland, Illinois. Chicagoland is generally defined as the communities that surround Chicago. It runs all together and really does feel as if it’s all Chicago. As I wrote above, fall in Germany was what I have seen as the Autumn envisioned in fairy tales and Hallmark movies. S.E. Texas and Mississippi acknowledge the season with hurricanes, tropical storms and general meteorological mayhem. It was in September that my children and I, along with the rest of S.E. Texas evacuated for Hurricane Rita in 2005, and then rode out Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Western Nevada can be lovely in September. Depending on how close you live to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Depending on the altitude, huge forests of Aspen turn golden amidst the Johnson and Pinon pines. The temperatures moderate but unless you’re above 7000 ft (2100m approx) there won’t be any sign of frost until the end of October.

Western Washington and Chicagoland were the closest to Germany’s Autumn. Both have falling leaves and pops of color. In Washington state, the Cascade Mountains keep the moisture from the Pacific concentrated along the coastline. September was always the driest month and with the Big Leaf Maples scattered within the forest of Conifers, there would be pops of color within the green. Frost didn’t show early because as it got colder the cloud cover returned. I remember seeing snow before seeing any frost.

Chicagoland had the lake. Lake Michigan had a huge impact on the local temperatures and weather patterns. Chicago may be called the Windy City but it’s not because it’s all that windy. After living in the West, I didn’t find the wind to be that noteworthy. It might be a reference instead to politicians and hot air. Fall in Chicagoland is refreshing. The summers can be quite hot and humid and come September the humidity starts to drop even though the temperatures are still quite warm. While the trees do change color, Chicagoland can get its foliage drowned out as severe weather will knock the leaves off the trees and rain will turn them into soggy masses on the ground.

Now I live in New Mexico (for the 2nd time). September here is a mix. It’s closest to Western Nevada. A bit drier near the mountains since we don’t have the Pacific Ocean nearby, but the altitude and whether you live in a valley, on a plateau, on the leeward side of a mountain range or the windward side of the same range makes a huge difference in the weather and what fall looks like. I live in Albuquerque. It’s a riparian environment, the Rio Grande runs through the valley that is surrounded by raised terrain. From volcanic peaks to the west to the Sandia Mountains to the east, the weather tends to go around us. The Bosque, along the Rio Grande, is one of the largest cottonwood forests in New Mexico. It turns bright yellow in the fall as the cottonwoods get ready for winter. But fall here happens in October. The chile harvests happen in late August and September.

https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/abq365/blog/post/leaf-peeping-in-albuquerque/

Right now it’s the September I know in New Mexico.

https://www.saveur.com/hatch-roasted-green-chile/

It seems the September I hear about is one that is manufactured to sell me things. Polyester oak leaves in gold and red,plastic pumpkins with frosty plastic crystals on top, cookies shaped like acorns, and cakes covered in buttercream leaves, all to help me make believe that my life can be a fairy tale. Just wait, they say, the perfect fall is one order away. It’s not fall yet, at least not in Albuquerque.

What’s September like in your neck of the woods? Do you get the lovely, colorful, crisp beginnings of Autumn? Or are you south of the equator and this is spring?