Indian Summer?

It was unusually warm this morning during my 12-mile run - a repeat of my workout two weeks ago, with the last two miles run at tempo pace.  The run went well, as did Martha's first 8-mile run in some time.  "This must be Indian Summer," I told someone.  By afternoon the temperature was up to 70 degrees, and there was a sweet, balmy breeze blowing out of the west.  I walked down our road and the golden leaves were shimmering like pebbles under a clear mountain stream.

But according to the Farmers Almanac this is not Indian Summer.  "During true Indian Summer, the air is still, and the sky is hazy or smoky."  That's because "a moving, cool, shallow polar air mass is converting into a deep, warm, stagnant anticyclone (high pressure) system, which has the effect of causing the haze and large swing in temperature between day and night."  They also claim that conditions described above must occur between St. Martin's Day (November 11) and November 20.  "For over 200 years, The Old Farmer's Almanac has adhered to the saying, If All Saints' (November 1) brings out winter, St. Martin's brings out Indian summer."

I'm enjoying it, regardless of what it is called.  Some of the leaves up in Town at a higher elevation are certainly at their peak of color right now.  But a "classic back-door cold front" is on the horizon, and early in the week some heavy rains, especially on Tuesday.  I have only three truly hard workouts to go, and one of them is on Tuesday - a repeat of my September 23 workout.  So I will be watching the hourly forecast carefully this week.