Two-plus inches of snow seep into the ground as daytime temperatures begin to rise above freezing at Put-in-Bay. The National Weather Service forecast calls for highs in the 40’s; not exactly what one associates with Indian Summer. Nonetheless, we’re still 36 days away from “official winter.” So be it!
The Old Farmer’s Almanac defines Indian Summer in this way:
Here are the criteria for a true Indian summer:
- As well as being warm, the atmosphere during Indian summer is hazy or smoky, there is no wind, the barometer is standing high, and the nights are clear and chilly.
- A moving, cool, shallow polar air mass is converting into a deep, warm, stagnant anticyclone (high pressure) system, which has the effect of causing the haze and large swing in temperature between day and night.
- The time of occurrence is important: The warm days must follow a spell of cold weather or a good hard frost.
- The conditions described above also must occur between St. Martin’s Day (November 11) and November 20. For over 200 years, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has adhered to the saying, “If All Saints’ (November 1) brings out winter, St. Martin’s brings out Indian summer.”