Microseason 62 of 72 · November 6–10
Last leaves cling stubbornly
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
Last leaves cling stubbornly
Oaks and beeches hold their brown leaves through winter.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Camellia Blooms Break Through
Camellia sasanqua and autumn camellia open early across the Southeast, their pink and white petals a signal that evergreen shrubs are beginning their dormancy bloom.
- PNWPacific Northwest
Last leaves cling in quiet rain
Scattered oak and maple leaves persist, darkened by repeated drenching. Marine grey settles in. Mosses thicken on every surface.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
California lilac blooms in winter light
Ceanothus flowers open in soft whites and blues along chaparral ridges; atmospheric rivers gather offshore.
- MWMountain West
Granite bones emerge from cover
Thinning vegetation reveals the skeleton of the high country — granite ridges and rocky slopes where summer's green has fully receded.
- MPPlains Continental
North wind strips the oak
Bur oak and post oak lose their leaves in a single week of Alberta clipper winds. Ground becomes bare and open.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Ocotillo stands sentinel
Ocotillo branches remain bare; the plant rests after summer blooms. Temperatures drop reliably below 80°F. Desert clearing begins.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Dry season takes hold
Afternoon showers become sporadic. Humidity drops noticeably. Flowering cycles shift toward deciduous trees preparing to rest.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Ice fog rising from open water
Inland basins cool rapidly. Fog forms where warm water meets frigid air. Visibility drops. Aurora fades behind haze.
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.