October blue
Have you ever heard that the skies in October are bluer than in other months? I can remember hearing that as a child. It was often used in an expression, such as “bluer than an October sky.”
I suppose it is a subjective judgment. I can’t say that I’ve made any quantitative measurement of the blueness of the sky in other months, but the idea must have some basis in fact somewhere if it’s been around for so long.
I’ve wondered what might make people think this way. The best idea I’ve come up with is that the leaves on trees turn and the blueness of the sky is a stronger contrast than in other months. It sounds plausible.
I’ve wondered if maybe the tilt of the earth or the thinness of the air might somehow make the scattering of blue light in the atmosphere bluer. Or if the rapid departure of color from the rest of the natural world in autumn made people crave what color they could find and hold it even more precious.
I’d read somewhere that the reason there aren’t more blue flowers is because they can’t attract pollinating insects to the color. I don’t know if that reasoning is valid, but blue is the most common color in nature, at least in volume.
Missouri calendar:
- New England asters bloom — provide nectar for late-migrating monarchs.