Listen for the song of cicadas and new generations of crickets

The human body is susceptible to the same cosmic influences as the Earth…. Body processes ebb and flow with the tides, just as do the crust and the waters and the magnetic field of the Earth.

— Arnold L. Lieber, M.D.

The moon, the sun and the comets

The Buzzing Cicada Moon wanes throughout the week, entering its final quarter at 8:16 a.m. on July 31. It reaches apogee, its gentle position farthest from earth on August 2 at 3:00 a.m. Rising after sundown and setting in the late morning, this moon passes overhead before dawn, encouraging creatures to be more active at that time, especially as the cool front of Aug. 4 approaches.

Nights grow longer in August, almost one hour and fifteen minutes longer by the end of the month. The first week loses two minutes in a day; by the last week, the loss is up to three minutes every 24 hours. Even though the days shorten, the average percentage of possible sunshine per day increases to near 80%, the highest of the year.

The Delta Aquarid meteor shower continues its passage from July 12-Aug. 23.

Weather trends

In the final days of July, a subtle change takes place in weather history statistics: The chances of a high in the 80s or 90s falls slightly from 90% down to 75%. That shift is one of the first measurable temperature signals that summer has begun to unravel.

Aug. 3, 4 and 5 are the last days of the summer on which there is a 40% chance of highs in the 90s, and chances of highs in the 80s are steady at around 50%. Cool days do occur 15 to 25% of the years, and afternoons only in the 60s are occasionally recorded between Aug. 2-11. Morning lows are typically in the 60s, although one fourth of the nights carry temperatures in the middle 50s.

A nighttime temperature in the 40s is possible now for the first time since the first week of July. The likelihood of rain increases to 60%, the highest since July 3 and the second highest of the summer. Clouds block the sun all day three years in a decade.

Zeitgebers (events in nature that tell the time of year)

The last week of deep summer arrived with the last week of July, moving in to the song of cicadas, the katydids, and the new generations of crickets.

Seedpods are fully formed on the trumpet creepers. White vervain blossoms reach the end of their spikes. Blue-winged teal start to migrate.

Ragweed heads up for August as honewort and wood nettle, mallow and tall meadow rue go to seed. Early cottonwoods are weathering. Black walnut leaves often start to yellow and fall.

Early pods of the touchme-not burst at the slightest touch. Dogbane pods swing in the wind. Meadowlarks begin migration. August fogs appear at dawn. Grapes and pokeweed berries darken.

Mind and body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, falls into the gentle 20s at the end of July and remains in those low numbers throughout much of the period. Even though the night is lengthening, the slight chances of cooling temperatures combine with the moon’s weak position to create favorable conditions for vacationing as well as for family and business interactions.

In the field and garden

The day’s length has shortened by almost three-quarters of an hour since summer solstice. Many does and ewes sense this change and may start to cycle.

Hemlock loopers assault the hemlocks. Oak skeletonizers eat the oak leaves as lily season ends in the garden.

Apple pickers have usually picked half the summer apples. Farmers are making corrective lime and fertilizer applications for August and September seeding.

Across the Midwest, almost all of the corn is silking by now, and a third of the crop could be in dough. Most soybeans are flowering or setting pods. Oats and the second cut of alfalfa, running neck and neck, are ordinarily three-fourths harvested.

Journal

2020: My Sunday morning is quiet and lazy. Clear sky, the air soft and mild. An occasional breeze follows the butterflies: a giant swallowtail, two monarchs, three yellow tiger swallowtails, four cabbage whites.

The butterfly effect seems to move the floppy leaves of the castor beans and push the drifts of zinnias and cannas. The sidle of the flowers and foliage soothes me, and I allow my ultimate concerns to settle into the deep time of wings and blossoms.

The sparrows gather on the ground around the bird feeders, swoop to the honeysuckles at a noise from the street, then come back one by one until the next fright, their back and forth complementing the lapping of the breeze, the butterfly wing-induced breathing of the landscape.

Fledglings feed and escape with the flock. The fledging has gone on for months, momentum growing with the summer. Throughout July, the parents taught their young, and the lessons have taken hold. Throughout August and early September, the schooling continues. The birds and the butterflies grace the gardens together, completing their cycles with autumn, the butterfly effect and the fledgling effect together, making the whole world move.