The calendar just recently transitioned from September to October. On your way to class, you stop by Starbucks to grab a hot chocolate to warm you up in the brisk cool breeze. The leaves are changing color. Wait, what? CUT.
That’s not Miami; you must be confused with a scene out of a Christmas commercial for scarves. Or maybe you do drink hot chocolate here in South Florida where the thermometers are reading 88F and humid.
“I’m from Canada and, although I love the Miami weather, there are no seasons here. The temperature just never leaves a certain range,” said Breanna Hayton, a senior from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. “It is true though, grass is always greener wherever you’re not…well except when there is snow on it.”
Freshmen are allowed a free pass on this but, as the rest of the residents of South Florida are well aware, there is no such thing as Fall in Miami. Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Lululemon sweaters, and UM mittens make their rounds but not to much avail.
“I guess I didn’t even think about the weather before I came here; I was too excited just to move. I knew it would be warm but I had no idea how hot it would be! Not that we get extreme temperatures back home but it’s much more humid here. There’s no chance of anything like fall ever happening,” said freshman Catherine Taylor who recently moved here from Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Miami temperature stays where it always is, right between that never-changing Key West warmth and not-as-breezy Fort Lauderdale feel. The sun still shines, the clouds still cry and the breeze comes just as occasionally. Really, there is not much difference at all between summer and fall since the official hurricane (storm not football) season occurs from June 1st until November 30th of every calendar year. Most northern states and Canada consider Fall to begin somewhere around Labor Day weekend, which is in the beginning of September. Miami saw it’s first Hurricane of the 2012 season on Labor Day weekend.
What do Hurricanes use as fuel you ask? Hot water, hot air, hot weather.
“I don’t know where people get the idea that it could possibly get cold this far south. We’re in the tropics, and we have palm trees. Have you ever seen a palm tree hibernate or snow start falling during a Hurricane? Didn’t think so,” said Bill Rominger, a local from the Fort Lauderdale area.
For those of you who are confused as to the feeling of a real Northern Fall – think North of Tennessee – let me explain. September and October mornings are cold, the kind of cold where it takes a great motivational speech to get yourself out of the warmth of your bed in the morning. A jacket, scarf and bottoms longer than your knees are usually needed and it becomes socially acceptable to completely switch to hot drinks. The trees change from green to red, yellow, orange and brown and every other plant just reaches the end of it’s life or climbs back into the ground. Squirrels and other animals start stashing their food to prepare for hibernation or just winter housing. You can even see your breath in the cold air due to condensation.
“I do all those Fall things that people talk about: I drink Starbucks, I wear long tights, I go with the Thanksgiving theme. Miami has Fall, it just requires air conditioning because it’s inside. You make it what you want it to be,” said Joy Gonzalez, a local Miamian.
“I don’t mind there being no fall; I moved to Miami for the beautiful year-round summer and I’m the only one when I go back home with a tan. I love it here,” said Hannah Hawks, a junior from Moorseville, North Carolina.
Coming back to reality now, yes, you still see palm fronds. Nothing dies in Miami, nothing hibernates and although some people try, boots are never a necessary fashion statement.
Whether to escape from the northern Fall or to avoid it seasonally like a snowbird, many people quite enjoy the Fall-free city we live in. They find it reliable and that, combined with the warmth, comforts many.
words_katherine guest. photo_karli evans.