FARGO — The last days of summer (yes, it’s the last days of summer!) are a lot like the last days of winter, as the weather can still be pretty hot and humid (read: cold and windy), even though the signs of the end of the season are everywhere. Our climate can still produce sweltering 90-degree days in late August and even well into September, but somehow these days seem more like an unusually hot and humid fall day than a classic summer.
The days are noticeably shorter and the midday sun is not nearly as high as it was a month ago. Maples and sumac are glowing yellow and red. Summer seems to be slowly slipping away. If you like hot weather, you need to soak up as much of it as you can, just like a cross-country skier taking advantage of the late winter snow. You know it won’t stick around much longer.
John Wheeler is chief meteorologist at WDAY, a position he has held since May 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South in Louisiana and Alabama and says his family’s move to the Midwest was important in developing his fascination with weather and climate. Wheeler lived in Wisconsin and Iowa as a teenager. He attended Iowa State University and earned his bachelor’s degree in meteorology in 1984. Wheeler worked at WOI-TV in central Iowa for about a year before moving to Fargo and WDAY.
