It's beginning to look a lot like... Fall...

With the celebration of Labor Day now in the archives and into the second week of September, it's only a matter of time before the humid days and mild nights transition into breezy afternoons and chilly nights. The humidity will become a thing of the past and soon, we'll be franticly searching for our ice scrapers and gloves... To many, the end of summer in West Virginia means that winter (and Christmas!) is just around the corner... And, that's not too awfully far from reality.

Similar to Spring, the fall season in West Virginia and Appalachia often suffers from an identity crisis. Above average temperatures into October result in a sharp transition to below average temperatures by the time November arrives and vise versa... Ideally, September, October, and the first days of November would gradually introduce us to the inevitable wintertime season. A subtle temperature change.. That rarely happens, though. 

Regardless of the temperature and climate outcome, we are generally guaranteed at least a few premiere days of fall foliage in the mountains of West Virginia... Somewhere... Foliage is always a challenge to predict across the state, attributed to different levels of precipitation, wind, temperature, and moisture. In the northern and eastern counties, color change becomes noticeable as early as mid September. When visiting our state's mountain counties over the weekend, I observed some subtle color transition along Cheat Mountain above Huttonsville, W.Va. Elevations above 3,600 feet will notice premature color changes as a result of cooler temperatures.

While it is relatively early to predict exactly when we may see our peak foliage days across the state, I hope to closely monitor the foliage situation (as I attempt each season) and report my observations back to this blog for our leaf-peeping followers.