The last of the cicadas are finishing their August songs, the school band has returned to the football stands, and the CNPS-TV weather team is forecasting Autumn 2025 as the Golden Season due the immense sunlight forecasts keeping temps summer-like while the leaves go from green to gold. Although, Autumn 2025 in Cinniapolis will not arrive in a hurry.

Fran Dimple, the CNPS-TV meteorologist who never met a metaphor she didn’t like, called it “a season of second chances” during her two o’clock cut-in Tuesday. She was wearing a cardigan patterned with maple leaves and quoting a sunrise haiku. “If you missed your July picnic, September will forgive you,” she said, before pointing to charts that show above-average temperatures stretching deep into the month.

The first notes of September carry traces of warmth clinging stubbornly to the past Summer. Joggers will continue to wear their Summer kits well into September before needing to add a layer or two as they breathe in the crisp Autumnal breezes off Lake Sinnissippi.

By October, Cinniapolis will be dressed for postcards. Maples will blaze scarlet, oaks will glow bronze, and the shrubs lining the bike paths will set off enough fire-red to convince tourists the Chamber of Commerce arranged it. Forecast models agree the month will be dry more often than not, and that means festival organizers are already smiling. Long-range forecasts suggest one or two sharp cold fronts, likely to sweep through just when folks get too comfortable. Expect mornings in the 30s by mid-October.

November in Cinniapolis is never an easy month. It belongs neither to fall nor to winter but spends its days borrowing from both. Early November will carry the same mild streak that defined September. But late in the month, change arrives. The odds favor above-average temperatures overall, but a few nights will dip hard and fast. Somewhere in the northern reaches of the city the first measurable snow is likely to stick.

The Cinniapolis Fall will be long on color and short on rainfall. In 2025, the season asks us to stretch our summers a little longer while bracing for those first cold reminders of the winter ahead.