Ah, September — or should I call you May revisited? September’s just as mild, though it’s kind of like May in reverse: we get the lingering echoes of summer rather than the foreshadowing. This is about the time D/FW starts to <> recover from the heinous heat and drought of the annual August onslaught. The recovery is gradual, but it’s notable, and not so precipitous that we can’t still enjoy the great outdoors. In fact, it’s easier to abandon the AC and go outside than in has been in months. Of course it’s still summer — that season lasts until mid-October here, no matter what the calendar says — but September summer is much easier to handle than July and August summer.
In a normal year (which by now I’ve probably made clear that 2007 is not), September is when the rains would start up again. At that time of year, they wouldn’t be the rushing, mad thunderstorms that we get in the spring, at least not usually, but we do get some long, quiet soakers in September. These showers give the people of the Metroplex another chance to demonstrate their complete inability to drive in the rain, but by and large the water’s welcome after several months of none at all. It was always a relief to me when I lived in my old house, because I didn’t want to have to keep putting more expensive water in my swimming pool. Speaking of swimming pools — but no, I’d better not get started. There are a lot of good reasons why my new place doesn’t have a pool.
It also begins to get noticeably cooler in September, thank everything that’s holy. The temperatures don’t exactly plummet, but we start getting a lot fewer 90-degree days, and triple-digits are very rare indeed. We also get some of our humidity back, thanks to all the rain. Add the rain and the cooler weather together, and you can get some pretty miserable days — but it doesn’t usually get too cold. That won’t happen until late October or early November. My understanding is that sweater sales tend to go up in Dallas in September, but I’d expect that’s got more to do with pre-emptive winter purchases than with people actually feeling chilled. To me, it’s a relief that I’m allowed to feel chilled again without cranking the AC down to 50.
Another thing I like about September is the State Fair; it starts on the last weekend of the month. What does that have to do with the weather, you ask? Well, one thing that you can almost always count on is that it’s going to rain at the Fair. George Strait even mentioned it once in a song: “Lefty’s Gone.” If you don’t believe me, give it a listen. It wasn’t one of his hits, but I like it better than “Big Balls in Cowtown.” The less said of that song, especially its title, the better.
Speaking of the Fair, I’m planning to write a nice, lengthy entry about it, complete with pictures of Big Tex and probably giraffes, as soon as Fair season rolls around and I can get a ticket. Consider yourself forewarned.