Meteorologically it’s now autumn. Don’t cover up yet
No sooner has the great heatwave of 2017 been dampened by a smattering of rain than talk of an Indian Summer hangs in the air.
Will it, won’t it? Well, for the weekend ahead much of the country can safely peel off the scritchy autumn jumpers that in recent days have returned to the fold.
Aside from the northwest and west, it will be sunny and warm, a pattern that is expected to dominate into the middle of next week.
I feel increasingly that the seasons need a bit of a rebrand to assimilate September into summer proper. After all, we spend two thirds of the month tilted towards the sun with daylight outlasting night.
Even though the meteorological start of autumn commences today, the autumnal equinox does not arrive until September 23. The sun rises early and a 7pm highball in the garden is still more than feasible.
Indeed in 2014 September was officially warmer than August – something that has happened five times in the past century. That month average daytime temperatures of 18.1C (64.6F) were recorded, following an unusually cold, wet August when the average temperature was 17.9C (64.2F).
In 2016 the hottest day of the whole summer landed in September. On September 13, 34.4C (93.9F) was recorded in Gravesend, Kent, the warmest September day for 105 years.
But be warned: a year ago similarly positive murmurs were being made about September and that turned out to be a real damp squib. Sunshine totals were below average while rainfall was well above.
Then Storm Aileen barrelled into view on September 12. On one day alone that September, 81.4mm of rain fell in Cumbria.
In truth, I’ll be content, rain or shine. For I adore this great rattling tombola of a month, whatever it may bring.