The month of May is upon once us again. It’s the first full month of spring, and it’s also the month of the unofficial start of summer, also known as Memorial Day Weekend. The month starts out with the green of early spring well under way, and leaves us with the signs of a spring maturing, and summer well under way.
There will be warm days and cool days in May. The days will continue to grow longer and longer, until we reach the end of the month, and almost feel like the lengthening days are too long too be true. They will prove to be true, once the end of June comes and we start to see maturing summer work it’s way towards August, and ultimately the fall.
Farms and gardeners will prepare and plant their crops. Many will work outdoors, soaking up the beautiful warming weather of spring time. They will enjoying the changing outdoors, that will ultimately in four months bring fall time bounty. Things will start to growth, and the natural world will come alive again.
May is a month of barbecues, parades, camping out under the stars, and much beauty this month. Much to enjoy, much to do that wasn’t possible when things where colder and not nearly as green. The days will past quickly as we work ourselves into the first true month of summer with June, but it still sure will be nice.
So enjoy this beautiful first month of what hopefully will be many months with long and beautiful nights outdoors.
April Showers; Bring May Flowers. —Common Folk Proverb
The month of April is when in Albany we see the last snow showers of the year, and the winter is washed away by the occasional rain showers that dot the days. April in Albany is not a particularly rainy month, and indeed with the rapidly warming temperatures and dry weather leaves us with the highest wildfire danger of year.
By the end of the month, the valleys will start to show the first signs of green, and our world will start to return to it’s “technicolor” beauty. It will largely be a month of browns and grays in the mountains, occasionally with the lack of shade, the weather will be hot and brutal. We will all get bad sunburns in the next month, often the worst sunburns of the year, with no place to hide from the sun that is getting higher over our heads every day.
Over the next month, the daylight will grow by almost 2 hours, with the sun not setting until after 8 PM by the time May rolls around. The sun will start rising an hour earlier to. This bright springtime sunlight will start waking up nature’s cycles and engaging spring time weather by the end of the month. Green will be popping up everywhere.
April is in many ways November in reverse. November takes us from the delightful color of October into the wintry December. April leads us from the cold harsh weather of March back into the delightful color of May. Warm weather is heading our way, as is the beauty of springtime.
Enjoy the month, get out, and enjoy some of the bright clear days that make April such a charming month.
In recent days it has started to warm up. The snow has largely disappeared except from the most sheltered areas by recent warm temperatures. The ground is throughly soggy and mud is everywhere. Yet, I am not foolish enough to believe just because the calender says that we are officially in spring, that it really is spring for sure.
We can still very much so get snow fall this late in March and into April. Some of our biggest snow storms of the year occur in late March, as weather closest to 32 degrees produces the most snow. It can still get well below freezing and quite cold at night. Winter doesn’t end the middle of March in Albany.
Yet, we can all take some refreshment in knowing that within a month the world will start to regain the amazing color of spring. Light greens on the trees and the greening of the grass becomes a deep green that will last through out the summer. The warm days in the lower 50s rapidly become warm days in the 70s, where you just want to soak up as much sun.
It may say spring on the calender, but it ain’t really here. Yet, it is still just around the corner.
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