Indian summer

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Indian Summer in Connecticut

As Indian Summer is called an unusually warm and dry weather period in the late autumn on the North American continent. The phenomenon is accompanied by a bright blue sky, warm weather and particularly intense leaf discoloration in the deciduous and mixed forests. It is limited to an area that stretches from the mid-Atlantic states north to New England , then west over the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes region , the American Midwest , the northern part of the Great Plains and Canada , areas in which there is a pronounced cold spell in winter. In the public perception, in advertising and in tourism, however, the Indian Summer is predominantly associated with the New England states and Canada.

etymology

In Anglo-American usage, “Indian summer” denotes the weather period or the time segment in autumn. The phenomenon of leaf discoloration is called "fall foliage" or "foliage" for short, after the Middle English "foliage" (meaning leaf), which in turn is derived from the Latin "folium". Another slang term that is related to it is "leaf peeping", the tracking, observation and photographing of the leaf discoloration.

The origin of the word Indian Summer is unclear, although various speculative views are spread in the literature - and even more so on the Internet. The word creation could be derived, for example, from the main hunting season of the North American Indians in autumn, but also from the favorable weather, which favored attacks by the Indians on settlers before the onset of winter.

The Iroquois tell the legend of the hunt for the big bear. Every autumn two hunters chase the big bear, whose magical power carries him high into the sky. But the tireless hunters and their dog follow him there and kill him after a long chase. The bear's blood drips onto the earth and turns the leaves of the maple tree red. If you look at the sky, you can see the Big Bear (the trapezoid made up of four stars in the constellation of the Big Dipper ) and close behind the two hunters and their dog (the three tiller stars ).

In the current debate about Political Correctness , which is currently very topical in the United States and which has been intensified in particular on the Internet , the word “Indian Summer” is viewed as having a predominantly negative connotation and is under discussion.

Indian Summer has meanwhile also translated into other languages, e.g. B. in German, found immediate entrance.

Weather and natural phenomena

Color spectrum of the Canadian sugar maple

The typical autumn weather that triggers a beautiful Indian summer is an extensive high pressure area along the American east coast after the first night frosts. Warm air from the southern and southwestern United States flows north, causing temperatures to rise. In most years such a weather situation remains stable for days or even weeks until an Atlantic low pressure area with an accompanying cold front causes a change in the weather.

As a rule, after the first cold days, the leaves at northern altitudes change color first. On the mountain slopes of Canada, the leaf discoloration begins as early as the end of August. It then progresses continuously, depending on the weather, but also by leaps and bounds, to the south. The typical fall foliage begins in Alaska and Canada and then spreads south across the United States, with a focus on the New England states of Maine , New Hampshire , Vermont , Massachusetts , Rhode Island, and Connecticut . The foliage peaks between early October in the north and late October in southern New England. The leaf discoloration can even be seen in California and northern Florida .

However, depending on the weather, the periods may shift. Extreme cold and early onset of night frost accelerate the coloration of the leaves, while a warm and sunny late summer with daytime temperatures above 20 ° C slows the process down.

Each state of New England shows its own color spectrum during Indian Summer, depending on the composition of the vegetation in the deciduous forests . However, it is said that the most intense color is found in Vermont. The sugar maple , whose leaves turn from green to yellow, orange, red and brown, is one of the most common trees in New England. Its distribution ensures the unique, bright scarlet red in the forests, a color spectrum that cannot be found in this diversity and luminosity in Europe.

tourism

Indian Summer at the Sleeping Giant (Connecticut)

Not only local tourists, but also many visitors from overseas use this time for trekking, canoeing and hiking tours. It is therefore not surprising that the annually recurring event is used effectively by the tourism industry. Guesthouses and hotels are fully booked on the weekends of the Foliage, and day tourists cause traffic jams on the panoramic roads. In the fall, the New England states switched on special foliage info telephones, where you can find out about the current status and the progression of leaf discoloration. In addition, state authorities and private providers publish updated Foliage Reports on the Internet several times a week.

The following is a selection of the places where the leaf discoloration can be observed particularly well (without claiming to be exhaustive):

Recommended trips are the three-hour ride from Essex on the Valley Railroad to Chester and back on a steamboat across the Connecticut River and a river cruise on the Hudson River . If you want to experience the Foliage particularly intensely, we recommend a multi-day hike on the Appalachian Trail from north to south through the New England states.

Marketing product

The advertising industry also took advantage of the event. There are numerous products with the name Indian Summer: a board game, perfumes, cosmetic series, even complete fashion collections. There is also a comic strip of the same name that takes place in the time of the Pilgrim Fathers , as well as a 1997 film with Bill Nighy with the original title Indian Summer (German title: Alive & Kicking - now even more so ). Yet another American film, a tragic comedy from 1993, is entitled Indian Summer (German title: Indian Summer - A wild week among friends ).

Comparable phenomena

Comparable but locally different natural phenomena are:

literature

  • Elmar Engel, Roland Kiemle: Indian Summer. Ontario's forest and water wilderness once, now and to relive. Busse Seewald, Herford 1989, ISBN 3-512-00893-3 ( Adventure and Legends 5).
  • Christian Heeb, Klaus Viedebantt : Maine. Wild coast and Indian summer. Bucher, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7658-1024-X ( Edition USA. Dream destination America ).
  • Artur Lehmann: Indian summer. The heat relapses of autumn in Central Europe. Parey, Berlin 1911 (at the same time: Berlin, Univ., Diss., 1911), (Also in: Landwirtschaftliche Jahrbücher. 41, 1911, ISSN  0368-8194 , pp. 57–129).

Web links

Commons : Indian Summer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b New Oxford American Dictionary, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press New York, 2010: "Indian summer: a period of unusually dry, warm wheather occurring in late autumn."
  2. ↑ a b [1] William R. Deedler: Just what is Indian summer and did Indians really have anything to do with it? National Weather Service website. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ [2] . Native American Legends. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  4. ^ [3] William Safire: Take the DARE, The New York Times, November 10, 1996. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  5. ^ Duden - German Universal Dictionary, Bibliographisches Institut Dresden 2009