Whatever Happened To Indian Summer?

The term Indian summer is a term that refers to the autumn heat waves we experience in the Northern Hemisphere. It's that spurt of warm weather, that last hoorah before autumn truly sets in. Where autumn brings with it the sobriety of knowing that school starts again, that we go back to work with the next bank holiday a long way off, and that we now need to pay off the costs of our summer vacations, we are taunted with a little burst of balmy warm weather.

BBC explains the term Indian Summer

The term is falling into disuse, and not just because it sounds a little culturally inappropriate. In the United States, the term for the indigenous population is Native Americans. In Canada, it's Aboriginal people, though it's quite a bit more complicated than that.

Canadian terminology explained

But are we losing Indian Summer to climate change as well? We weren't supposed to have over 30-degree Celsius weather all summer. So then does the little dip into "normal" range temperatures count if the weather gets hot again for an extended period of time? Or will the change in weather pattern be persistent? Only time will tell, but my bet is that climate change will give us a new pattern, and a new term to describe it.

When we see you this fall for your autumn spruce-up, don't let the weather fool you. You're still going back to school, and still going back to work. And you'll still want to come and get your September haircut at Frankie Cochrane Salon in Holborn.