Indian summer (also called Old Wives' summer in the United Kingdom) is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. This time can be in late October or early November (Northern hemisphere) / late April or early May (Southern hemisphere), usually sometime after the first frost. It can persist for just a few days or weeks.

The dates for Indian summer are very inexact due to the enormous variations in climatic patterns throughout each hemisphere. In the northern U.S. state of Minnesota, for example, warm Indian summer weather generally occurs earlier: in early or mid-October rather than in early November. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, where winter and summer temperatures vary relatively little and some of the warmest weather of the year tends to occur in October anyway, the term "Indian summer", if used at all, does not have the same potency as it would in a region with hot summers and very cold winters.

The term is also used metaphorically to refer to anything that blooms late, or unexpectedly, or after it has lost relevance. For example: "The team experienced an Indian summer, winning the series after losing the first six games." Compare this usage to renaissance.

In some regions, such as the southeastern United States, Indian summer is colloquially used to describe the hottest times of the year, typically in late July or August. These are more commonly known as dog days.

The term has been used for well over two centuries. The earliest known use was by French American writer St. John de Crevecoeur in rural New York in 1778. There are several theories as to its etymology:

• It may be so named because this was the traditional period where North American First Nations/Native American peoples would harvest their fall crops.

• In The Americans, The Colonial Experience, Daniel J. Boorstin speculates that the term originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather was an "Indian" summer. This is unlikely, as the first recorded instance of the term happened in 1778, by which time such raids would have become uncommon.

• It could be so named because the phenomenon was more common in what were then North American Indian territories, as opposed to the Eastern seaboard.

• It may be of Asian Indian, rather than North American Indian, origin. H. E. Ware, an English writer, noted that ships at that time traversing the Indian Ocean loaded up their cargo the most during the "Indian Summer", or fair weather season. Several ships actually had an "I.S." on their hull at the load level thought safe during the Indian Summer.

See also

• January thaw
• Dog Days

Further reading

Adam Sweeting, Beneath the Second Sun: A Cultural History of Indian Summer. University Press of New England, 2003. ISBN 1584653140.

External links

• Indian Summer Article - National Weather Service
• USA Today, 'A close look at Indian summer'

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