Autumnal Light

It’s not your imagination. The light actually is different this time of year. Golden and lush, it’s also more magical. It’s not just the color of the leaves, or the chill in the air. The light is different and it’s changing fast. There’s science behind the magic as well.

Poets love to write about autumn. They call it our gilded season, or talk of the golden light this time of year. The leaves turning color, the chill in the air, perhaps the smell of wood smoke from a fire. The shadows lengthen. Birds start to head south. At the Bay, you hear more geese honking as they arrive. There is a poignancy to autumn that isn’t present in the other seasons, as well. In the back of our minds we know we will soon be ensconced in the two tone world of winter. For me, those thoughts make me want to linger longer in the golden time of year that is autumn.

I love the light this time of year. It’s different from the flat light of summer, or the cold light of winter. It is softer, and almost has a thickness to it, particularly in early morning and late afternoon. It gives a golden glow that isn’t present in the other seasons. It bathes the woods with a warmth of color. Combined with the turning leaves, it becomes magical.

But it’s not just magic. There is also a science behind Autumnal Light. Over the course of the year, the angle of the earth changes every day. The sun was straight overhead at the Summer Equinox, giving us the longest day of the year. Since then? As our axis shifts, the sun has dropped lower in the sky every day. In fact, since the start of Autumn, it’s dropping even faster. As the sun falls, it must pass through more atmosphere before reaching us. The color is altered by the absorption and refraction differences with the lower angle. The end result is the magic of autumn we all love.

Soon Halloween, and Thanksgiving will pass, and winter will arrive. The bright spots of Christmas and New Year’s Eve will provide cheer, and then it’s the slow slog through January, February and March. I don’t hate winter, but I’m always glad when it’s over.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the rest of this autumn. Walks in the woods in the late afternoons are pure joy. The quiet of the woods, the color of the leaves on the trees, the crunch of leaves underfoot, a deer racing up a nearby hill, they all combine to create moments that are mystical. Add in the dappled fall sunlight playing across the woodland and it’s enough to make me wish that moment of perfection would last just a little longer. If only it could.

Addendum:

• Thanks to our friend Vinnie for the photo of our neighbor Susan’s home on the Bay in the afternoon light. I love this picture.
• I was recently informed by WordPress (the site where my blog is hosted), that I first started this blog seven years ago, last week. My, how time flies. Here’s the blog that started it all, published in October of 2015: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/why-live-life-exuberantly/