As you read this, the first day of meteorological autumn arrives Friday, Sept. 1.

Not that the weather will change drastically, but these last few cool mornings and evenings have certainly felt different.

Sunrise is visibly later, approaching 7 a.m., nightfall comes earlier as well, we’re closing up more windows, leaving fewer to capture brisk night breezes. The hummingbird elders have disappeared but the juveniles remain, tanking up on flower nectar and sugar water for that daunting thousand mile-plus journey they have never made before. Moths have replaced butterflies around the dwindling flowers.

This amazing annual shift from hot summer to just warm autumn also reverses human weather behavior, sending us indoors for dinner, suggesting we stock up on groceries and refurbish winter necessities.

A drink on the deck is missed because of rain, yard work starts later and ends earlier. Even the animals, domesticated and wild, respond.

Take our lovely Katie, a 12-year-old Labrador/German Shepherd mix, who has shed daily on every floor surface and human she greeted over the last three months. Suddenly the extra fur bits have disappeared and she sports the beginnings of a sleek, thick, black winter cloak. The backyard chickens are laying less, looking a bit ragged and soon will be in molt before sporting shiny new feathers for the cold to come. At night, bears surreptitiously check the garbage cans, raid fruit trees, leave their seedy evidence behind.

The still snow-patched but verdant tundra on Mt. Abram will soon glint golden, gently taking leave of its short green glory. The fens of Ironton now shade toward the orange and yellow end of the spectrum, a few aspens suddenly look pale, leisurely walks along the old Mears Road are chilly in the shade.

Summer 2023 did bring some very mixed blessings. Ouray’s had an unusually hot July and August, following an unusually cold winter and spring, until June 18th when the weather flipped. No surprise — unfortunately — in such chaotic worldwide seasons as this year has delivered. “July’s blistering heat was experienced by more than 6.5 billion people, or 81% of the Earth’s population, and was made worse by global warming, according to an analysis by nonprofit research group Climate Central.” (Jan Wesner Childs, “Blistering July Heat Was Fueled By Climate Change, Climate Central Study Says,” News and Blogs, Weather Underground, weather.com, August 23, 2023.)

The usual suspects were fingered once again in this summer’s extreme heat across the globe — carbon based emissions. “Most CO2 emissions in the U.S.,” writes Childs, “come from gas or diesel vehicles, coal or natural gas power plants and industry, according to the EPA.”

While Ouray was spared long-lived, blistering heat domes, 110 plus-degree days, murderous floods and hurricanes, the summer still felt weirdly out of joint. In June the city had no 90-degree days, but July, which normally has none, had three. June’s meager monthly allotment of rain mostly fell by the 18th. July was not the typical second- wettest month of the year (2.66 inches), but the driest — 0.22 inches.

And August? Over the first 29 days high temperatures averaged 79.8 degrees, 2.9 above the new normal, 76.9. Nights averaged 53.3 degrees, 2.1 above the new normal, 51.2. Then the rains came and — as my Irish grandmother used to say — “the summer’s over.”

Precipitation for August, usually the wettest month of the year, is only 1.36 inches as of the 29th, just half of the new normal, 2.7, thanks to a tardy, skimpy monsoon. But two mountain creeks flooded last Saturday, Oak and Corbett, blocking South Pinecrest Street and County Road 17, startling homeowners and stranding hikers. And since monsoon season isn’t done with us yet, there could be more flooded creeks to come.

But thinking of the garden, I realize it’s been well worth the long effort this dry, hot summer to keep it alive. We’ve harvested both June’s first strawberries and sweet end-of-the-season ones this August. July brought sour cherries and raspberries, both appreciated in desserts.

Now at the end of August at 7,800 feet, apricots, yellow zucchini and cucumbers have taken over — literally.

And the fall fruit bounty — plums, peaches, pears, apples and purpling grapes — suggests jam, pies and wine in the making. A ripe tomato or two, flowering basil begging to be pesto, rapidly yellowing pie pumpkins — they too remind us that these dwindling warm days, cooler nights and sudden downpours signal autumn on the doorstep.

But September is upon us, so it’s probably time to check out NOAA’s forecasts for the month and the season. Last Friday’s 3-4 week prediction for Sept. 9-22 features above normal temperatures and dry conditions across Colorado and New Mexico. Early September looks hot, with the next few days also featuring a resurgence of monsoon weather.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” — Albert Camus Karen Risch gardens, records weather for NOAA and CoCoRahs, writes and hikes in Ouray. Her Wunderground weather station ID is KCOOURAY3, transmitting weather from latitude N38 1’ 34”, longitude W107 40’21”, Elevation 7,736’. A purpleair.com air quality monitor RISCH operates at the same location.