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Fall weather is on the way. At least, that’s what the weatherman says.

There was some frost on housetops Tuesday morning and more is in the forecast. The weather forecast calls for freezing frost and freezing temperatures as early as Thursday.

If you have sensitive vegetation, you’ll want to start making plans to protect it, and if you haven’t turned your heat on, you may want to.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, covering plants with a blanket or row cover – which can be found in garden stores – is the best way to protect sensitive vegetation, and the material traps the heat.

The first frost of the season, and especially a freeze, typically marks the end of the growing season, because most seasonal plants die or go dormant. Exceptions among garden vegetables are plants like kale, spinach, cabbage, radishes and beets, which can survive a light frost. However, most farmers in our area have already gathered their crops.

Temperatures will plunge into the low 30s both Tuesday night and Wednesday night. The current forecast is for a low of 31° both nights. The National Weather Service’s Morristown weather forecast office is forecasting widespread frost both nights.

A warming trend will be fully underway by Friday, with temperatures pushing back to near 70°. Above-normal temperatures are expected to be the general rule for the remainder of October and into November. Daytime temperatures could push 80° by the middle of next week.One potential fly in the ointment for frost is cloud cover. Tuesday night will feature partly cloudy skies. Cloud cover inhibits frost formation by reducing condensation that is caused by the cooling of warm and moist soil during the night. Nighttime cooling is a process referred to as “radiational cooling,” when longwave radiation is released into space. When it is cloudy, however, the longwave radiation is reflected back to the surface and absorbed. Regardless, frost will appear likely Thursday morning and perhaps Friday morning even if conditions don’t prove optimal Wednesday morning.  

To some, autumn is the best season because it looks as beautiful as it feels. It provides us with motivation, convivial companionship, and gorgeous views to match. Brisk afternoons and splendid colors bring people together to enjoy what is all around us in the fall. With less time in a day and an impending winter, we plan accordingly.

Autumn invigorates our senses and we become keenly aware that time as a whole seems shorter now. Despite seeming to have less time, we have more of everything else. Crops ripen and an absolute bounty of goods become available for us to eat and enjoy. 

Holidays of generosity are shared among family and friends, and even strangers give freely to each other during this time. We plan for our future, preparing to brave winter only to come through thriving in spring. Death constantly crops up as a motif, however, renewal is perhaps more fitting.

Like spring, the amount of light we receive is less than what we would see in the summer, but how beautiful it is. The sun goes lower in the horizon at all points in the day, and the light appears softer and golden. The light goes through more of the atmosphere, causing the higher temperature colors (such as blue and violet) to reflect out of the visible light spectrum. It does not take all the higher temperature light away completely, but it leaves the lower color temperatures, such as red, orange, and yellow, more prominent, which is pleasing to our eyes.

Eventually the color show ends and leaves are sealed off from the branch by the tree, die and fall off, but even then fall is revealing something new and interesting. The look of fall reinvents itself many times over, giving us a season of great variation.

Why does this matter? How does this make autumn perhaps the best season? It must be that the oncoming winter causes outspoken woodland creatures to work overtime to find food. Or perhaps it is people going to as many different events as possible to make use of the remaining good weather. Or maybe all of the environmental conditions combine to create beautiful views. Likely, it is all these factors and admittedly some personal taste that makes autumn the best season. It is an annual occurrence that these factors combine to make the world look beautiful this fine season.