Microseason 56 of 72 · October 6–10
Maples begin to blaze
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
Maples begin to blaze
Sugar and red maples turn first — rooftop views go orange.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Maples ignite the ridge
Sweetgum, hickory, and tulip poplar blaze gold and crimson across the Appalachian Piedmont; early maples lead the turn.
- PNWPacific Northwest
Maples ignite orange
Big-leaf and vine maple blaze in gold and red. The canopy's upper layers glow. Understory color reaches its peak before drop.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Santa Ana wind season
Santa Ana winds blow hot and dry from inland. Fire risk peaks. Humidity near zero some afternoons.
- MWMountain West
Aspen gold slides downslope with the chill
Color descends the elevation gradient; high peaks already brown, mid-slopes ablaze, valleys entering gold phase.
- MPPlains Continental
Geese gather on autumn waters
Peak Canada goose and snow goose migration. Flocks reshape the water-filled prairie potholes. Maples and oaks begin their color shift. Cooler air masses dominate.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Sandhill cranes return
Sandhill cranes arrive at Bosque del Apache; their bugling echoes across wetlands.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Hurricane season's second peak
Mid-October remains within the active Atlantic window; named storms continue, though peak intensity has shifted from August-September.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Ice thickens on the rivers
Freeze-up cycle accelerates; rivers and bays begin their transformation to solid platforms for winter travel.
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.