Signs of Autumn in Florida
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting Suncoast Scribe!
The weather is cooling off here and it makes my mind turn to thoughts of autumn. I read an article online detailing all the best places to go in the nation to see the fall foliage and it made me do a mental double-take. Is it really almost that time of year again? When I lived in Virginia, mid-October was the height of the color season. So, I suppose that means that the leaves are beginning to show their brilliance further north even now. Wow.
You get a little off track living in the tropics. If you are observant, though, you do see the seasons shift here. We might not have the typical four seasons, but right about this time of year we see the humidity begin to go away and that marks the beginning of a glorious fall for us.
The evening light is less direct and has a lovely yellow cast. Unlike northern states, you will still need sunglasses here in the fall and winter, but the light is filtered now and less harsh. Mornings bring the heat slowly in the fall. There is no more waking up to 90+ degrees at 8 a.m.
And the snow birds, how they begin to roost. Of course, I do not mean literal birds, but rather those who spend their summers up north and come to live in Florida in the fall and winter. Right after school starts around here, the traffic begins to double. We seem to have twice as many cars on the roads these days, many from Canada and New York. You need to figure in an additional 10 minutes for drive times.
Tourism in general picks back up. Summers have lots of tourists, but fall and winter are even more hospitable down here. People make their way here for business conferences, stints at addiction treatment facilities, and the type of leisurely family vacation where you pull the kids out of school.
Most Floridians would agree that we suffer June through mid-September here simply because the other 9 months are bliss, a veritable Heaven on earth.
No comments yet.