<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0rYwol_0vksh6N200" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0rYwol_0vksh6N200" width="1280" height="854" ><figcaption>Photo: Nick Sulzer // Buckrail</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0lEPqh_0vksh6N200" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0lEPqh_0vksh6N200" width="2048" height="1366" ></figure>JACKSON, Wyo. — With the weather changing to autumn and the temperatures dropping, there’s little chance for a “Second Summer” in Wyoming.Often known as an “Indian Summer,” the American Meteorological Society (AMS) dropped this term from their official glossary in January 2020 and discourages its use on the basis of it being an antiquated moniker for Native American peoples that is considered politically incorrect. Instead, the AMS suggests calling this phenomenon a “Second Summer.”Other names include “St. Martin’s Summer,” since in Europe and Great Britain the holiday St. Martin’s Day falls on Nov. 11, the official start time of the potentially late warm spells, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac (OFA). Shakespeare also used the term “All Halloween Summer” to describe the phenomenon.The OFA defines a “Second Summer” as a period of abnormally warm weather that includes clear skies, sunny or hazy days and cooler nights with no wind; while it typically occurs between Nov. 11 and Nov. 20, National Weather Service (NWS) weather historian William R. Deedler writes that any phenomenon like this occurring in October or early November can be considered a “Second Summer.”According to the OFA, the warm weather must be above 70 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of at least seven days or more. A moving, cool and shallow polar air mass converting to a deep, warm and stagnant high pressure system causes the haze and large swing in temperature between day and night.A “Second Summer” must also occur after at least one killing frost but before the first official snowfall. The OFA says that, usually, a substantial period of standard cold weather precedes the warm spell. All of this criteria allows this weather phenomenon to occur multiple times in some years, or not at all for a period of years.But Lance VandenBoogart, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Riverton, Wyoming, says that the data shows Jackson Hole doesn’t typically experience this trend. From peak summer temps in late July and early August, VandenBoogart tells Buckrail that Jackson Hole and the whole western part of Wyoming show a consistent cool-off.<blockquote>“The data shows that average high temperatures continue to drop from the peak of summer all the way to the dead of winter.”Lance VandenBoogart, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Riverton, Wyoming</blockquote>“If you look at the yearly average temps, if [a Second Summer] is a phenomenon that happened in the data, you would see some sort of little dip and then a rise again in the average high temps,” VandenBoogart says. “That’s not the case. The data shows that average high temperatures continue to drop from the peak of summer all the way to the dead of winter. There isn’t a secondary high peak of temperatures.”While a cold system can come down from Canada into Jackson Hole after months of warm temperatures and then the valley warms back up again, making it feel like a “Second Summer,” VandenBoogart confirms that this doesn’t technically qualify. The temperature records for Jackson Hole go back to 1925 and provide almost 100 years of information that shows no unusual jump in October or November temperatures.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=27Iyrf_0vksh6N200" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=27Iyrf_0vksh6N200" width="1024" height="354" ><figcaption>Image: Courtesy of Lance VandenBoogart // Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Riverton, Wyoming</figcaption></figure>According to the records, late July sees an average high temperature around 81 degrees. By Aug. 1, the average high falls down to around 62 degrees. By Nov. 1, the average high is 46 degrees, and by Dec. 1 the average high sits at about 30 degrees.VandenBoogart says that Jackson Hole doesn’t experience a “Second Summer” due to its location in the northern hemisphere. In the summer, Jackson Hole points toward the sun and slowly rotates away from it, moving into the fall and winter. Since the sun is the primary source for heat where weather is concerned, the consistent rotation that results in shorter days and less sun prevents Jackson Hole from seeing a big rise in temperatures.</div></body>

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Second Summer unlikely in Jackson Hole

JACKSON, Wyo. — With the weather changing to autumn and the temperatures dropping, there’s little chance for a “Second Summer” in Wyoming. Often known as an “Indian Summer,” the American Meteorological Society (AMS) dropped this term from their official glossary in January 2020 and discourages its use on the basis of it being an antiquated moniker for Native American peoples that is considered politically incorrect. Instead, the AMS suggests calling this phenomenon a “Second Summer.”