Autumn has officially arrived, but it seems summer didn’t get the memo to buzz off.
The fall season officially started at 3:50 this morning with the coming of the autumnal equinox.
During the two equinoxes of the year, the sun shines directly on the Earth’s equator – meaning the length of the day and night are essentially equal. The autumnal equinox is the moment the sun crosses over the celestial equator heading south, and in our hemisphere, it marks the first moment of fall.
Hot time ahead
It's the season when it's socially acceptable to start chugging pumpkin spice lattes and carving jack-o'-lanterns, but this fall also is bringing unseasonably hot weather.
Since 1970, the average temperature of the fall season has gotten a total of 2.4 degrees warmer in Atlanta. This year could feel even hotter, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Katie Walls.
Atlanta typically reaches the 90-degree mark 37 days a year, she said. We’ve already hit that mark 79 times in 2019 with no end in sight.
The highs this upcoming week are in the low and mid-90s through Saturday. The metro area likely will see record-breaking temperatures Thursday, Friday and Saturday as the highs hover around 94 and 95 degrees.
Fall foliage
So, what does this mean for you? Well, for starters, you might not want to host a bonfire anytime soon. It could also mean that autumn looks a little different when you peer outside your window.
In Georgia, leaves typically start changing color near the tail end of September and the very beginning of October. Fall foliage is usually at its peak at the end of October, when one can easily spot bursts of yellow, orange, magenta and even crimson.
But stress caused by heat, paired with drought, can throw a bit of a wrench in that. The hot, dry weather could delay the onset of the peak colors. When the bursts finally appear, they could be shorter, and the colors could be duller. That means the falls hues could disappear nearly as quickly as they came.
» RELATED: Places to view fall leaves in Georgia
Pity the pumpkins
As it turns out, pumpkins aren’t exempt from heat stress either.
Some Georgia farmers said the recent heat has caused some pumpkin crops to ripen early and discolor, according to Channel 2 meteorologist Eboni Deon.
“We’ve got a lot of good pumpkins this year,” Jaemore Farms owner Drew Echols told Deon, “but we are seeing more scalding and blistering than in years past. (The heat) made them ripen up sooner. We had to start picking them a little quicker than we would have liked.”
» RELATED: Some popular pumpkin patches
The good news in all of this is that metro Atlanta will have great conditions for some football games. Despite scorching highs for the coming weekend, low temperatures will be right around 70 degrees.
And, we’ve heard pumpkin spice lattes are also served on ice if the temperatures don’t come down anytime soon.
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