OH, it’s wonderfully chilly on the first day of autumn in Texas.. It’s been an actual autumn here for the first time in many a year. Actually it was cool on that first day and it has turned windy and rainy and cold.
In reality, fall is from September 21st to December 21st, the same as everywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere. But here in Texas, autumn starts at different times. Depending on what part of the state you’re talking about, it usually starts cooling off in October. In Dallas, it starts early November. In Houston, it begins Thanksgiving week and ends around Christmas through the end of the calendsr year. In the valley, the start is early December.
It generally doesn’t get really cold except for short spells in December and January. By the end of February, the days are warm, the nights cool, and the rain is gentle with less wind or severe conditions.
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When the wind starts whipping and the leaves are rustling all over, a strange thing happens. The leaves change from green to shades of red, orange, and yellow. Soon the whole countryside wears a blanket of color. Sumacs, maples, dogwoods and some oaks turn shades of pink, red, and maroon, while sycamores, hickories, poplars, sweet-gums, and catalpas turn gold, yellow, and orange.Surrounding evergreens cause these red, orange, and yellow maple leaves to look even more spectacular.
Many people take these fall colors for granted, but did they know that many other people throughout the world never see the leaves change? They miss this spectacular sight because autumn coloration does occur only in the temperate zone.
