Big chill needed before Indian summer

A few weeks ago, I was asked if I thought we were going to have an Indian summer.

At the time, we were still technically in the summer season, so an answer to that question would have required somewhat of a long-range forecast on my part, which I generally don’t try to do.

It did get me thinking however, about the term Indian summer, what its meaning is, and where it originated. It seems as if the general consensus is that Indian summer is a period of above normal, warm temperatures that occurs during the fall. I’ve also read that the warm period can only be considered an Indian summer if it follows the first freeze of the season.

Over the last 30 years, the average date of the first freeze at the Spokane International Airport is Oct. 3. Taken over the entire period of record, the date shifts slightly to Oct. 7, which is also the average first freeze date for Coeur d’Alene. Farther north in Sandpoint, Jack Frost usually visits a little sooner, Sept. 16 on average.

Of course due to differences in elevation and topography, the date of the first freeze can vary widely across the region. Case in point, this past Tuesday the low temperature at the National Weather Service office near the Spokane airport dipped to 29 degrees. Fairchild Air Force Base had a low of 32 degrees. Temperatures stayed above freezing however, at Geiger and Felts fields, with lows of 34 and 38 degrees respectively.

The Coeur d’Alene area also escaped the freeze for the most part with lows generally in the mid to upper 30s reported that day. Just looking at the averages, it would seem that most of our Indian summers would occur sometime in October.

Know one knows exactly where the term Indian summer originated. It has been discovered in French literature dating back to the late 1700s. The author St. John de Crevecoeur spoke of it as an “interval of calm and warmth” and a “tranquil atmosphere and general smokiness” which follows the rain.

What does that have to do with Indians? There are many possible explanations for that as well, though none have been proven. Some say that this was the period of harvest for Indians, or that they used the dry, hazy weather as an opportunity for hunting or even for attacking whites before the harsh conditions of winter set in.

It is also possible that early English immigrants equated Indian summer to a “fools” summer which would quickly revert back to more seasonal unsettled conditions. Locally, that is the story of our autumn season, which can give us a taste of winter’s chill one day and a balmy afternoon the next.

Temperatures are supposed to be above normal this weekend and into the start of next week, with above freezing temperatures overnight, and warm dry days. The absence yet of a widespread freeze, however, has me saying that we won’t have a chance for an Indian summer until next month.