August 20 2023
There comes a day each year in August, in Nova Scotia, where you sense the impending arrival of fall. The smell in the air, the slight change in temperature, the shift in colour of the day, all signal the closing down of summer.
That was yesterday – Sunday morning, just past the middle of August. There is still a third of the month before September. There will be many more summer days – sunny, hot and humid, or overast and muggy, or brilliant sunshine with a more bearable temperature, but interspersed with them will be those slightly crisper days which will become more frequent as September turns to October.
The loveliest time of the year, here in NS, is mid-August ’til end of October. Who knows what awaits us this year – it’s been an unusual year of weather from the get-go. Our winter had less snow than we’ve come to expect, spring was the wettest we’ve ever seen with continuous rain. Summer seemed to start late and with unusual heat came torrential rain that extinguished the uncommon forrest fire conflagrations raging in a number of locations but also resulted in destructive flooding.
Will we experience a more “normal” transition to fall? We all hope so. In gardens, flowers are past their prime, grass (in spite of the rain) is showing brown spots, soon trees will hint of changing colour. That natural progression will occur, but the weather? It’s anybody’s guess, this year!
Earlier today it was cloudy with a bit of sun shining through, but as I walked from my car to the pool, I was aware of the slight chill in the air. This afternoon, it’s warm and very muggy – the air is heavy with moisture and the forecast calls for rain this evening.
Today, it begins to look and feel like fall.
Closing Down of Summer 2022
Closing Down of Summer 2020
Closing Down of Summer 2015
jmn 
I know that day. We have it here as well. I yearn for summer to be slightly longer every year so I pretend not to feel that day
When I was a kid at summer camp the closing down of summer day would come in the last week of camp – could feel it in the air. So I’ve always been aware of it – these days it catches me by surprise but I accept the inevitability of the seasonal change it foreshadows.