Microseason 61 of 72 · November 1–5
Ginkgos drop overnight
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
Ginkgos drop overnight
Ginkgo trees drop all their leaves in a single day after frost.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Sweetgum Turns Crimson
Sweetgum and tulip poplar leaves ignite in amber and red across the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, their color show more gradual than the North.
- PNWPacific Northwest
Maple and ivy turn to amber
Big-leaf maples flame gold before dropping. English ivy turns deep rust on fence posts and snags. First real chill at dawn.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Coast live oak leaves turn amber
Valley oaks and coast live oaks blaze gold and rust as moisture returns; first atmospheric rivers threaten the coast.
- MWMountain West
Aspen canopy falls to earth
Aspen groves shed their gold in sudden cascades. Alpine slopes glow copper to rust as temperature drops and wind accelerates leaf drop.
- MPPlains Continental
Tallgrass turns gold
Prairie bluestem and Indian grass shift to bronze and amber as frost hardens the plains. Monarch butterflies still drift south on prevailing winds.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Mesquite leaves turn gold
Velvet mesquite canopies shift from green to amber as cooler nights arrive. Creosote remains evergreen. First cool breezes signal the desert's color change.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Last storms clear the horizon
Hurricane season wanes. Trade winds pick up, pushing remaining tropical systems westward. Air begins to dry.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Termination dust settles on peaks
First snow blankets the high country. Days drop below 12 hours of light. Moose descend from mountains toward winter browse.
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.