I have been amazed the past few days at the weather here in Kansas. I had literally forgotten when Fall weather starts here and I had to ask Greg yesterday. I was just in disbelief that the Fall weather is here to stay already!! I kept expecting to look at the extended forecast and see the return of 90+ degree weather, but it just wasn’t there and I didn’t know what to make of it. This may seem silly to all of you Mid-Westerners, but 5 years in a different climate is truly enough time to become accustomed to something different.
For the past 5 years, I was living in the desert Southwest, in Tucson, AZ. Upon moving there, I knew that the summers would be hell to contend with, but what I didn’t bank on was just how LONG the summer weather lasts down there. It is literally November before we start seeing lower 80’s on a regular basis. October is still solidly in the warm-to-hot temperature stage. The first year I was living there, this REALLY pissed me off. I moved there in August, during the height of Monsoon season. August was hot and humid, September was hot and I thought, “surely the weather will cool down in October”. Well, October came and still nothing. Sure it was in the 90’s and not the 110’s, but that didn’t cut it. I would get especially angry when I’d speak with Greg on the phone and he’d describe the perfect 55 degree drizzly Fall day in Kansas. I was beyond jealous, I was desperate. I NEEDED it to cool down for my own sanity. Usually by November and December, Tucson temperatures were acceptable, and in January, one might need something more than a light jacket to keep warm. But I truly missed the cool, crisp, overcast days that mark the Fall weather of the Midwest.
Now I’m happy. Its cloudy, its cool, its drizzly, and I’m loving it. I’m still in disbelief that it started already and I am secretly still holding my breath for the return of 90 degree weather. Maybe I’ll let out that breath during the first snow of the season.
