Weather ramblings — ‘Last of the barefoot days’

September is a turning point month.

“These are the last of the barefoot days, and we know it,” The Glen’s Falls Republican reported on Sept. 24, 1874.

For farmers, September weather needs to be like the last bowl of porridge in the children’s story “Goldilocks and The Three Bears” — “Just Right!”

An early frost can damage crops before they are harvested.

“Jack Frost gave us a foretaste of his peculiar qualities on Saturday night last,” the Republican reported on Sept. 17, 1867. “Tomato, melon and cucumber vines were nipped by his fingers and it is feared that the buckwheat crop is seriously injured.”

“A heavy frost yesterday morning caused considerable damage,” the Adirondack correspondent reported Sept. 7, 1883 in The Morning Star of Glens Falls.

And in Glens Falls the same day: “The weather still remains cold. There was a severe frost Tuesday morning, killing corn and late potatoes, of which there will not be half a crop.”

Likewise, too much heat can be devastating.

“From all parts of the county we hear of drought,” the Republican reported on Sept. 20, 1870. “The rivers are all lower than they have been for forty years.”

On Sept. 9, 1874, the temperature in Lake Luzerne was 107 degrees, the hottest day of the year.

But when September weather is just right, it is “one of the most delightful months all year,” The Post-Star editorialized on Aug. 31, 1921.

“September, the month when young feet once more turn toward school-house days … the month of grain threshing and potato digging. … The warm days and cool nights, the sun shining through an autumn haze, the blue sky turning to black at night.”

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