It’s Friday, good morning. I’m not sure how we got here, but over the weekend, October will be upon us. Bring on all the ghosts, skeletons, goblins, and…Christmas decorations?
I’ve already spotted some of these in my big box stores. And it is TOO SOON for me. For Lord’s sake, WHY people? Can’t we just enjoy pumpkin spice season before bleeding over into evergreen season? I guess not.
October is the 10th month of the Gregorian calendar, which, for those of us who recall our basic Latin from way back in the day when we were cramming for the SAT, doesn’t make any sense because “octo” is Latin for eight.
This is actually a throwback to when the month was, in fact, eighth in line on the Roman calendar. The Romans did make an attempt to change the name in honor of various emperors after they converted to a 12-month calendar, but October was too catchy, I guess, or too deeply ingrained in the lexicon, because it’s still with us.
October was once known as “wine month” – Winmonath, in Old England – because this was the time when that grape-based alcoholic beverage was made. It also went by “Winterfylleth” (AKA Winter Full Moon).
October is known for many things, not the least of which is Halloween, as referenced above. I’m sure we’ll have plenty to talk about as the month progresses. Here in upstate, it’s known (depending on where you live) as prime leaf peeping season.
The further north you travel, of course, the earlier peak colors appear, but generally speaking, the end of September into the second week of October is when the resplendence of fall foliage is at its very best.
For reference, here’s a handy 2023 fall foliage prediction map. As you can see, things are only just getting started in the leaf-changing department. (More on New York specific peak predictions can be found here and here).
The heavy rains we had in previous months will likely have an impact on the brilliance of the colors this year, muting them to some degree, and also perhaps reducing the duration of the show, due to the reduced sugar content in the leaves. Pretty but not bold, as one expert told Boston.com (see the link above), seems to sum it up. Sunny and dry is the best combination for vibrant colors.
Not to get so technical as to take the romance out of the season, but the science behind why leaves change color is actually pretty neat.
Click the link in the previous sentence if you want to go REALLY deep on that. The short version: As the season changes, the days get shorter and temperatures drop. Trees get less direct sunlight, which causes the chlorophyll in their leaves (the stuff that makes them green during the spring and summer months) to break down.
A combination of nighttime temperatures between 32-45 degrees F and bright, sunny days create the best conditions for trapping sugars in leaves, which allows pigments called anthocyanins, which are not present during the warmer growing season, to develop and enhance color.
There are actually colors that are characteristic of particular species of trees – red, brown, or russet for oaks, for example, and golden yellow for aspens. When it comes to maples, there’s a different color palette that depends on the sub-genre of tree – from orange-red for sugar maples to glowing yellow for black maples, with several stops in between.
Sadly, today will not be the best from a weather perspective for leaf peeping. We’ll have showers in the morning that turns into a steady rain in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the low 60s, which is feeling pretty darn chilly to me at the moment.
The weekend is shaping up to be a half-and-half situation. Saturday will bring morning showers, followed by a cloudy afternoon. Sunday looks more promising, with abundant sunshine. Temperatures on both days will be in the low-to-mid 70s.
In the headlines…
President Biden issued a broad and blistering attack against former President Donald Trump, accusing his predecessor and would-be successor of inciting violence, seeking unfettered power and plotting to undermine the Constitution if he returns to office.
Biden called Trump a direct threat to American democracy in the most forceful condemnation of the former president and the MAGA movement he has delivered since he took office.
Biden was to make a quick visit to the Phoenix area for a private campaign fundraiser and a public tribute to the legacy of John McCain, who represented Arizona for six terms in the U.S. Senate.
Tensions erupted as House Republicans met behind closed-doors yesterday, the latest sign of deep divisions and infighting as the House GOP conference has failed to coalesce around a plan to avert a shutdown.
Sen. Rand Paul, (R-Ky.), reiterated his threat to hold up a Senate government funding bill because it includes more than $6 billion in funding for Ukraine.
Lawmakers have until the end of the day Sept. 30 to reach a deal to fund the federal government. If Congress doesn’t act, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday — a situation that appears increasingly likely.
Federal government employees who would be impacted by a shutdown have been notified that one may be imminent.
A handful of federal programs that people nationwide rely on everyday could be disrupted — from dwindling funds for food assistance to potential delays in customer service for recipients of Medicare and Social Security.
The U.S. air travel system is huge and complicated, and it could show significant signs of stress in the event of a federal government shutdown.
People, businesses and towns relying on park tourism worry the fourth shutdown in a decade could crush them if Congress can’t reach a deal to keep the government running.
The looming government shutdown would also affect Fat Bear Week, the annual celebration of wild bears who put on weight to prepare for hibernation.
Arizona and Utah will keep iconic national parks in those states open if a shutdown of the federal government threatens access to Arizona’s orange-striped Grand Canyon and the sheer red cliffs of Utah’s Zion Valley.
The president and his team insist they do not want the government to shut down. But they are also confident that Republicans will receive the blame if it does.
Documents release by House Republicans shed new light on how two IRS agents who investigated Hunter Biden felt like they hit roadblocks whenever President Joe Biden’s name came up in the criminal probe.
In a chaotic session, Republicans accused the president of crime and corruption, but even their witnesses said the case for impeachment hadn’t been made.
None of the witnesses were “fact witnesses,” meaning none were involved in the investigation or the alleged activities the hearing was discussing. Instead, all three were introduced as experts in their respective fields.
Sen. Robert Menendez gave a defiant and impassioned speech to his fellow Senate Democrats, maintaining his innocence and repeating he has no intention of stepping down after being indicted on bribery charges, despite many colleagues’ calls to do so.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman became the first senator to say he supports a vote to expel Menendez from the Senate over the federal bribery charges that have rocked Capitol Hill.
The Constitution states the House and Senate “may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and … expel a member” with a two-thirds vote.
Trump lost his last-ditch attempt to delay his mammoth fraud trial, as New York Attorney General Tish James informed the court she plans to put him on the witness stand.
A five-judge appeals panel rejected Trump’s request that it block the trial from starting as it considered his argument that some claims in James’ suit be dismissed because they fell outside the statute of limitations.
Trump’s civil fraud trial over accusations that he inflated the value of his properties by billions of dollars could begin as soon as Monday after a New York appeals court rejected the former president’s attempt to delay it.
Attorneys for Trump have notified a Fulton County court that the former president will not seek to have his Georgia election interference case removed to federal court.
The move comes as a surprise, as Trump was largely expected to try to move the Georgia case as part of a bid to invoke immunity protections for federal officials.
When the former president gave a speech in Michigan on Wednesday, seeking to capitalize on the United Auto Workers strike, at least two crowd members holding signs saying “union members for Trump” and “auto workers for Trump” turned out to be neither.
Gov. Kathy Hochul this week appointed former chemical company executive Dru Rai to serve as the state’s newest chief information officer, filling a full-time vacancy that’s been open for six months.
County sheriffs in upstate communities are voicing concerns about the state’s 2-week-old ammunition background check system, saying they disagree with state political leaders that it will reduce gun violence in the state.
Mayor Eric Adams said that White House officials haven’t cited any political calculus behind not responding to his calls to provide additional aid in addressing the migrant crisis but added more is needed before Biden is in the thick of his 2024 re-election run.
Adams suggested that he wants to exempt the influx of migrants from the city’s decades-old right-to-shelter mandate as his administration tightens the length on shelter stays and explicitly discourages new arrivals.
Some critical services in New York City are growing less reliable under Adams, from long waits for food stamps to fewer sexual health clinics.
As New York City inches closer to recovering all the jobs it lost during the pandemic, Manhattan — the city’s economic engine — marked a far less encouraging milestone. It now has the biggest income gap of any large county in the country.
A judge said New York City regulators could move forward and raise minimum wages for app-based food delivery workers, ruling against three delivery giants that had challenged the rule.
A new law in California will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour next year, an acknowledgment from the state’s Democratic leaders that most of the often overlooked workforce are the primary earners for their low-income households.
A New York real estate broker was sentenced to nine months of house arrest this week for paying a former shelter operator hundreds of thousands of dollars in a yearslong bribery scheme to profit from city funding meant for homeless people.
Following a bruising primary season, the head of the Brooklyn Republican Party, Ted Ghorra, is stepping down with just weeks to go until this fall’s high-stakes City Council elections.
As New York City sinks under the mass of its own weight, some hotspots are sinking faster than others, including LaGuardia Airport, Arthur Ashe Stadium and Coney Island, according to a new NASA report.
Ed Fancher, a psychologist who started The Village Voice, the nationally known alternative weekly newspaper, with two partners in 1955 and remained its publisher until new ownership dismissed him 19 years later, died at his home in Manhattan. He was 100.
New York City is in for a second straight soggy weekend, with heavy rain and flash floods forecast today and tomorrow that could make it tough to get around town.
New York City lawmakers are pushing legislation that would roll back strict requirements under a new climate change law for buildings covering 800,000 co-op and condo apartments, citing costs that could have their home-owning tenants seeing red.
Cornell University has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a 2020 class-action lawsuit filed by students after the Ivy League school shut down in-person learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After its sudden departure last summer, arena football is returning to Albany next year.
The Rensselaer City School District said it won’t allow what it described as an outdated and inappropriate form entitled “Relationship Application” to be distributed again to students following an uproar on social media.
The Powerball jackpot edged ever closer to $1 billion after a big winner failed to emerge after its latest drawing Wednesday night.
The Taylor Swift effect is real. After a photo of the pop superstar at an N.F.L. game last weekend eating ketchup and “seemingly ranch” dressing with her chicken tender, went viral, snack and condiment companies raced to capitalize.
