Windy, rainy and the origins of Fall, or is it Autumn?

Good morning Augusta

This morning it’s raining and windy with a high near 45ºF. Winds will be gusty from the NE at 20 to 30 mph. Rainfall should be around a half an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

Tonight it will be cloudy and windy. Lows will be around 37ºF. Winds will be from the N at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. 

The readings from my weather instruments in the North field are:

Humidity is 96%, the dew point is 41ºF, outside it’s 7.9ºC and ºF.

The wind direction is North Northeast between 5.4 MPH and 16.3 MPH, generating a wind chill of 36.0ºF.

The Barometric pressure is 30.16 / HPA 1021.3 and falling with a weather graphic indicating rain.

The UV rating is 0.0 out of 16, Sunrise is at 7:11 a.m. Sunset is 5:33 P.M. Moon rise is at 4:56 a.m., Moon set is 4:46 p.m. and the moon phase is Waning crescent.  

The RAW METAR reading from the airport in Augusta, Maine where the sun first touches the U.S.A. every morning is: METAR KAUG 281053Z AUTO 05008KT 6SM -RA BR FEW010 OVC015 06/05 A3013 RMK AO2 SLP207 P0003 T0056005

Visibility is 6.0 miles / 9.7 kilometers with Clouds and overcast down to 1,000 ft / 304 m., and overcast is down to 1,500 ft / 457 m.

We have received 0.38 Inches of rain over the past 24 hours so far, and it’s going to be rainy all day.

And the following is lifted in whole from today’s New York Times.  Enjoy.

The trees are losing their leaves. There is a chill in the air, pumpkins on porches and fake spider webs hung as decorations. All signs indicate that fall is in full swing … or is it autumn?

The season with two names is among the many differences in British and American English. It hasn’t always been so.

Harvest was used before autumn, by some accounts in the 12th or 13th century. Autumn had joined it by the 16th century, which is also about the time that the terms “spring of the leaf” and “fall of the leaf” appeared. They were shortened to spring and fall.

But it was later that the divergence of who used what happened. The settlers who colonized North America preferred fall to autumn.

Over the years, letter writers to The Times have cited British literature in our pages as a reminder of fall’s roots.

“A honey tongue / A heart of gall / Is fancies’ spring / But sorrows’ fall,” was part of a 1599 poem by Sir Walter Raleigh brought to our attention by a reader in October 1942.

So whichever side of the pond you’re on, take a moment to enjoy the colors (or colours) of fall — er, autumn — this weekend.