Microseason 42 of 72 · July 26–31
Katydids begin their chorus
A five-day window of the year, read through nine North American climate regions.
Same week, nine climates
A microseason names a five-day window of the solar year. What that window actually looks like on the ground depends on where you are. Below, the same calendar window read through each of nine North American climate regions.
- NENortheast Continental
Katydids begin their chorus
Katydids start their nighttime calls, gradually building.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Katydids begin their rasping chorus
Late July: tree crickets and katydids tune their evening serenade; cicadas fade as temperature persists.
- PNWPacific Northwest
Smoke Deepens
Dense haze swallows the mountains. Air quality deteriorates to unhealthy levels in valleys. Visibility drops below a mile on the worst days.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Chaparral poised for ignition
Sage, chamise, and manzanita have lost all extractable water; fire spread potential is extreme.
- MWMountain West
Monsoon pulses weaken northward
Monsoon energy diminishes in northern reaches; southern New Mexico and southern Utah continue afternoon storms while north dries.
- MPPlains Continental
Katydid chorus erupts at dusk
Katydids and long-horned grasshoppers begin their nightly chorusing, a cascading song rising in intensity as evening settles over prairie.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Storm chambers fruit
Monsoon rains slacken slightly in frequency but remain violent when they arrive. Desert fruit — saguaro, prickly pear, mesquite — ripens rapidly. Second-bloom wildflowers fade.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Fruits swell in the tropical canopy
August approaches. Fruiting accelerates. Ceiba, mahogany, and sea grape release seed. Parrots and seabirds gorge. Hurricane season now dominant.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Fireweed clock begins to wind down
Fireweed flowers finish blooming and transition to seed fluff; this traditional marker signals that summer's peak has passed.
About the 72-microseason calendar
A microseason is a five-day window of the solar year — long enough to notice something change, short enough that the change is specific. The year holds seventy-two of them, six per month, ordered by what the natural world is doing rather than what the clock says. Almanac calendars like this are an old American habit, kept by farmers, gardeners, and birders for centuries; Weather Story collects them into a single reference.
Each microseason is read through nine North American climate regions. The phenological events that mark a five-day window vary with ecology — the strawberries that open in the Northeast might coincide with the first magnolias dropping in the Southeast and the salmonberry blossoms unfurling in the Pacific Northwest. Same week, nine ecologies, nine readings.