Summer's last hurrah

Don't be fooled.

This weekend's weather may be downright summer-like, but it will actually be fall.

In a nanosecond, and it literally is a miniscule blip in time, at 11:50 tonight, the autumn equinox happens.

It's a momentary flash as the sun crosses the equator on its way from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere marking the end of summer and the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

"The weather and the fall equinox don't appear to be in sync at first because the Thompson Okanagan will have summer-like conditions this weekend," said Environment Canada meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau.

"But, it will catch up with us on Monday as the weather turns cloudy and cooler and rainy."

That's right.

Enjoy today's, Saturday's and Sunday's sunny skies and daytime high temperatures of 23C, because on Monday it all takes a turn with clouds and rain and daytime highs of only 16C for a stretch of at least three days.

You can look at this two ways.

You can mourn the loss of summer or you can embrace fall's beauty.

Or, you can do both simultaneously, as I do.

Beauty may be too strong a word for the cool days of rain and cloud coming up early next week.

But, after that there may be some crisp and sunny autumn days to put on a sweater and admire the changing colours, sip a glass of wine in honour of grape harvest, escalate your pumpkin decor and huddle at home as the nights close while eating stew and watching Netflix.

Thanksgiving, one of the highlights of fall, may be sunny and warm or cloudy and rainy.

"The 10-day outlook has a stormy pattern," said Charbonneau.

"But, there's the potential for the second half of October to dry out and be warmer than normal."

Along with Charbonneau's weather forecasts comes a warning about snow -- yes, snow -- on high-elevation highways.

"The higher passes on the Okanagan Connector and Coquihalla have already had a dusting of snow," she pointed out.

"It was short-lived, but it will start becoming more and more common. It's time to be driving prepared, including snow tires."

The lesson here is that weather on the relatively balmy valley floors where Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and Kamloops are located can be drastically different from what's happening on the mountain passes.

The autumn equinox tonight technically is supposed to mark the equal length of day and night at 12 hours each.

But, since nothing is straightforward, the Thompson Okanagan will actually have 12 hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds of daylight today with sunrise at 6:44 am and sunset at 6:56 pm.

To further complicate the issue, it actually started to get light at 6:12 am with what's called 'civil twilight' and the last vestige of light will stick around until 7:28 pm.

The start of fall can be anytime Sept. 21 to 24 depending on how the Earth is rotating on its tilted axis that particular year and the sun's movement 150 million kilometres away from us.