LOCAL

In glow of foliage and sunshine, Saturday neared a warmth record

By Martin Weil
November 5, 2022 at 10:16 p.m. EDT

In part, Saturday seemed remarkable in itself. An unusually warm November day with enough golden sunshine to let us see our fall foliage in stunning proximity to its golden peak of glow and glitter. ... But it is a fair guess that for weeks to come in Washington only a departure from long-standing thermal tradition will provide us with many more days so splendid as Saturday. ... In addition Saturday seemed well suited to its role as the last full day of daylight saving time. ... Many of us keep our own sorts of calendars to mark the days and the seasons; many of us look with regret, and even a sense of chill foreboding, on the arrival of the early sunsets caused by the resumption of standard time. ... So if a day existed for us to bid farewell, even if only symbolically, to brightness, to sunshine and to late sunsets, Saturday seemed made for that task.

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Saturday’s high outstripped the average for the date by 17 degrees. So great a gap may even have seemed disturbing in a way, as if we had become unmoored from November reality. ... It also turns out that no date here in December or in January has had a higher temperature than Saturday.

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Often warm days in the cool weather season show a great disparity in comfort between areas of sunshine and of shadow. ... It may seem subjective, but on Saturday it did not seem necessary even for the most thinly clad to seek sunny spots to feel free of temperature concerns. ... It seemed warm everywhere. It was so in the direct rays of the sun, which drifted in and out of clouds. But it was warm also in shade and shadow.

Leaves seemed clearly close to their peak. Some had seemed recalcitrant, as if they would never change. But by Saturday they too had gone for the gold. ... At moments the trees seemed merely decoration. But when the sun slipped free of cloud, and shone on them and they burst into golden incandescence, we could almost hear a symphony, approaching crescendo, proclaiming the glory of the season. ... Saturday seemed to create and to blend a warmth of memory and a memory of warmth, and it seemed a special combination.

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By Martin Weil
Martin Weil is a longtime reporter at The Washington Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/martyweilwapost