Beginning of autumn
Cool mornings and thick fogs
Summer has passed, Autumn has arrived. The fields and groves are empty and sad. Alexey Pleshcheev
The beginning of autumn is characterized by the transition of the average daily temperature through +15 and a reduction in daylight hours to 14 hours. During this period, the frequency of cloudy days increases, and although it no longer rains, the moisture that falls does not evaporate as quickly as in summer. Puddles can last much longer. Mornings become cool, night fogs become more frequent.
Everything freezes
We didn’t notice the beetle And we closed the winter windows, But he’s alive, he’s alive for now, Humming in the window, Spreading his wings... Agnia Barto
Nature subtly senses these changes and ends its active summer activities. Yellowness appears in the tree crowns, and the beetles become half-asleep.
A sign of early autumn is a flying cobweb. © Paul Aniszewski | Shutterstock.com
Towards the middle of the month, due to increasing temperature contrasts between the cooling Arctic and the still warm south, cyclonic activity intensifies. The weather becomes more unstable, sometimes very warm, sometimes very cold. The change in weather is accompanied by heavy weather, with heavy rain and wind. As a rule, bad weather is replaced by arctic cold snaps, threatening the first frosts.
By the way, the earliest date for the first frost in Moscow is August 31. In 1895, −1.2 was recorded.
Changes in nature in autumn
Leaf fall is a wonderful natural phenomenon, justified from a biological point of view. Fallen leaves give trees a chance to rest and prepare for a long winter hibernation. Without leaves, trees consume less water, accumulate less snow on their bare branches, and, therefore, the risk of mechanical damage is reduced. With their leaves, trees shed all harmful insects that will die in the winter season.
It is during leaf fall that the Indian summer period begins. The latest warmest temperatures bring moderate sunshine. Late fruits ripen and are filled with sweetness and a special aroma. At night you can already feel the breath of near cold weather, but during the day it is very beautiful and peaceful.
Indian summer does not last long, starting on the 20th of September, it ends with the onset of the next month, it is replaced by the first serious signs of autumn bad weather. A thick fog falls to the ground, sticky and milky, filling the air with rotten dampness.
Why do trees need leaf fall?
Leaves are the lungs of a tree. Without them, photosynthesis is impossible - a process that is both respiration and nutrition for a plant at the same time. Photosynthesis occurs best when the tree has enough light and heat.
Therefore, with the first rays of the spring sun, they begin to bloom young sticky leaves. But in the winter cold, the leaves become a burden. And the first reason that prompts a tree to get rid of its lush crown is lack of moisture and cold. In winter, the top layer of soil freezes, and it becomes impossible to extract water from it. Leaves evaporate a very large amount of moisture. If the plant had not shed them in the winter cold, it would have died of thirst.
Another good reason to get rid of leaves is winter precipitation.
It happens that even without leaves, snow and ice, sticking to the branches, break the tree with their mass. Imagine how much such cargo would accumulate on the leaves! Few trees would survive until spring intact.
The plant begins preparing for autumn leaf fall ahead of time. In August-September, a smooth partition grows at the base of the leaf - the so-called cork layer. Increasing in volume, it gradually separates the petiole from the branch. For some time the leaf still holds on due to the “water-bearing” vessels, but as soon as a light wind blows, it falls off.
A sure sign that leaf fall is about to begin is yellowing or redness of the foliage.
This happens because due to the lack of daylight, chlorophyll, a substance that participates in the process of photosynthesis and colors the leaf green, does not have time to recover. It is gradually replaced by other substances, which is why the leaf changes color.
At its core, fog is a thick cloud that forms at the very surface of the earth. The sharp change in temperature in the early morning hours lifts moisture into the air, concentrating it there.
As soon as the temperature rises, the fog will dissipate and moisture will fall back onto the ground, covering the withered grass with a layer of frost if the ground has cooled enough.
Frost is particles of frozen dew.
They look like prickly snowflakes, covering all surfaces with an uneven, prickly layer. As a rule, the appearance of a light ice cover indicates that negative temperatures and the first frosts have appeared.
With cooler temperatures comes a cold front that brings a cold air mass. Winds change their directions and intensify, bringing with them precipitation and bad weather. If this happens gradually, then autumn turns out to be slushy and protracted. Cumulonimbus clouds carry large amounts of precipitation. If climate change occurs abruptly, then you can often see rain and snow, strong winds, and the appearance of various cold cyclones in early autumn.
Closer to December, the air temperature drops to low negative levels, which already bind the water surface with the first crust of ice. The ice is not yet completely strong, so the water carries it downstream, forming an autumn ice drift.
In mid-autumn, the ground is covered with ice; it forms only under conditions of light frost, which prevents rain from turning into snow. The air is already cold, but the ground has not yet cooled down enough for everything around to be covered with a white blanket of snow - the first harbinger of severe frost. This is how nature prepares the transition to winter, long and protracted, snowy and cold.
Frosty breath can already be felt in the cold nights, and bad weather and slush rearrange all living things around, putting them into hibernation, which helps to cope with the approaching cold weather.
Fog is an accumulation of condensation products. A huge number of water droplets or ice crystals gather together and form a cloud at the surface of the earth. Sometimes it is so dense that nothing is visible at arm's length.
Physical principles of fog formation
Fog is formed due to the contact of cold air with warm air at a relative humidity of more than 85%.
But in populated areas, fog often occurs even with low humidity. This occurs as a result of condensation of water vapor, which appears during the combustion of fuel (in furnaces, car engines, etc.).
Fog. Photo: Christoffer H.
Seasonality in fog formation
Fog can occur at any time of the year. This is a common occurrence in lowlands, above water bodies, and in the mountains. Fog occurs most often in the autumn-winter period. High humidity prevails during these months. Air temperature tends to change abruptly. Therefore, currents of warm and cold air actively move above the ground.
The duration of fogs in a time period can vary from several tens of minutes to a day or even more. Frost is a type of precipitation, which is ice crystals, formed during the sublimation of atmospheric moisture on horizontal and subhorizontal surfaces.
Golden autumn
Returns of summer heat
In the original autumn there is a short but wonderful time - The whole day is as if crystal, And the evenings are radiant... Fyodor Tyutchev
After the first serious cold spells, a long lull and warming often occur, associated with the spread of the cores of the Azores anticyclone to the east. As a rule, during this period there is a large daily variation in temperature: the nights are fresh, the days are warm, in the sun the air can easily warm up to +20. In this case, we say that Indian summer has arrived.
Indian summer. © goran cakmazovic | Shutterstock.com
Multi-colored vernissage
The forest, like a painted tower, purple, golden, crimson, stands like a cheerful, motley wall above a bright clearing. Ivan Bunin.
The next turning point of the season is the transition of the average daily temperature through +10. For a photosynthesis factory, this is a critical temperature. She slows down and stops her work. Chlorophyll disintegrates and ceases to mask other pigments involved in photosynthesis with its green color. This is how crimson, gold and gray color appear. The different combinations of the three pigments create a color symphony.
Bright colors of autumn. © goran cakmazovic | Shutterstock.com
Autumn changes in nature
Autumn is one of the most colorful times of the year. Autumn, like spring, amazes and attracts us with its continuous change - not a single day of autumn is like the rest. The transition from the warm days of late summer to the first snow of winter occurs gradually during the fall.
In the seeming “dying” of autumn nature, the sprouts of the coming spring are hidden. The autumn period is of great importance for the life of plants and animals. Autumn is a transition period from summer to winter.
Leaf fall
The beginning of the autumn coloring of trees can be considered the first sign of autumn. This majestic and colorful natural phenomenon is associated with biological changes that occur in almost all wild trees during the cold periods of the year.
The foliage falls and thus allows the plants to rest and prepare for a long winter hibernation, when all life processes inside the tree are suspended and the juices stop circulating. Without leaves, trees use much less water and do not accumulate a lot of snow on their branches during snowfalls.
This means that the risk of mechanical damage is reduced. In addition, along with the leaves, plants shed all kinds of pests, which then die during the period when cold weather sets in. We can say that autumn changes in nature begin with the fall of leaves. But this is in living nature (after all, trees are also living beings with the ability to breathe and grow).
How are the autumn changes in inanimate nature associated with the imminent onset of cold weather?
Fogs
Indian summer is a short period, usually ending with the onset of October. The first signs of inclement weather are already appearing.
Fogs, thick, sticky, reminiscent of milk in appearance, fill the autumn nature with dampness and a musty smell. In its essence, fog is a thick cloud that, as a result of temperature changes, forms at the very surface of the soil. As soon as it gets warmer, the fog will clear. The moisture will fall on the withered grass and foliage in the form of frost.
Frost
The topic of autumn changes in inanimate nature also includes such a phenomenon as frost.
Essentially, these are small particles of dew frozen in the form of snowflakes. They cover all surfaces with a thin, uneven, prickly layer. This indicates that the first frosts and negative temperatures have appeared in the atmosphere.
Winds and clouds
In autumn, a cold front in the atmosphere brings with it colder air masses.
The winds react to this and change their direction, intensifying, bringing bad weather and precipitation. This time of year sometimes becomes slushy and long, causing autumnal changes in nature.
Ice drift and glaze
At the end of November, sometimes the air temperature drops to negative values. The water surface of various reservoirs is frozen by the first crusts of ice. This most often occurs in ponds and lakes where there is almost no current. The ice is not yet completely strong, so the wind and currents carry it away, forming the so-called autumn ice drift. The ice that covers the soil in mid- and late autumn is formed by light frost, which prevents rain from turning into snow.
The ground has not yet cooled enough to be covered with a blanket of snow, a harbinger of severe frosts.
deep autumn
Farewell to the Motherland
Flocks of birds fly away, beyond the blue sea. All the trees shine in a multi-colored dress. Konstantin Balmont
Each degree of temperature drop from +10 to +5, which lasts from the end of September to mid-October, is a criterion for the departure of a certain species of bird. Nature here has everything strictly regulated so as not to create a crowd in air traffic.
An important step in the period is when the average daily temperature reaches +8, when heating is turned on in houses.
Birds fly south. © Foto Factory | Shutterstock.com
Golden autumn ends on October 14 - on the holiday of Intercession. People have long noticed that the first snow falls on this day. In Moscow, such an event occurs infrequently, only once every 10 years. In deep autumn, which lasts almost until the end of the month, night frosts become a regular occurrence, and during the day the temperature rarely exceeds +10.
Signs about the weather in autumn
Throughout the fall, people observe a number of phenomena that characterize the approach of winter - the struggle of summer warmth with winter cold, and try to guess the future using a wide variety of folk signs, among which the falling of leaves from trees, the flight of birds and other phenomena can be put in the foreground. animal world; then - snowfall, the appearance of fog and frost, freezing of rivers.
“Warm autumn - for a long winter”, “If the autumn is stormy, then the spring will be rainy”, “Autumn cold without snow - black soil” (the land is dry and black), “If the earth and winter crops (autumn crops) freeze well in the fall , then even without snow the bread will grow, and if not (i.e. it’s warm and wet), the winter root will prop up and don’t expect a harvest.”
Autumn signs by leaf fall
“If early yellow leaves appear on the trees in summer, it will be early autumn.” “Premature leaf fall means early winter.” Late leaf fall - for a difficult year: for a harsh and long winter. “If the leaves fall soon in the fall, we should expect a cool winter.” “If a leaf falls from the trees uncleanly (i.e., part of it remains on the trees), there will be a severe (i.e., cold) winter.”
“If the leaves fall from birch and aspen cleanly, it means a light and fruitful year.” “Until the leaves have fallen from the cherry trees, no matter how much snow falls, the thaw will rot it and the sleigh path will not be established.” “If snow falls on the still unfallen leaves in the fall, it will be hard for the people.”
Signs of leaf fall - Russian and German - are surprisingly similar. They unanimously point out that late falling of leaves from trees promises a harsh and unfavorable winter and a late onset of spring.
Here in Rus', we watch not only how the leaves fall; sooner or later, amicably and cleanly, or the leaf stays on the trees for a long time - when the snow has already fallen, but they also watch how the falling leaf lies on the ground. “If a leaf, falling off in the fall, lies with its face up, then this means a lack of harvest next year, and if it falls on the wrong side (shaggy side), then it means a harvest” (Dahl).
“If aspen leaves lie face up on the ground, the winter will be very cold, and if the leaves are turned upside down, it will be warm; half inside out, half face out - the winter will be moderate, with alternating heat and cold.” “If in the fall the birch leaves begin to turn yellow from the top, then next spring will be early, and if from below, then it will be late.”
Autumn signs about the weather. Signs for the harvest of some fruits. A harvest of acorns on oak trees means a large harvest of bread next year. “A lot of acorns on an oak tree - for a warm winter and a fertile summer.” The hazelnut harvest also foreshadows the grain harvest for the coming year. “If there are plenty of nuts, but few mushrooms, the winter will be snowy and harsh”, “Late mushroom - late snow”, “Lots of berries - for a cold winter.”
Autumn signs by birds
“Before departure, every bird “flocks” (gathers in flocks), “When a bird flocks (flocks), it will soon fly away,” “If birds fly away before the Intercession [October 1 (14)] - a short autumn, after the Intercession - a long " If the rooks begin to fly away early, before the Intercession, winter comes early. “The rook flies away - it will snow.”
The wild goose flies away early - it’s also early winter. If wild geese fly high in the fall, when they fly south, the winter will be cold. “Migratory birds fly low - short autumn.” Swallows fly away when it is still warm, in the second half of August.
“The crane flies late - winter will not set in soon”, “A swan flies in the fall - towards snow, and a goose flies in autumn and spring - towards rain.” The cuckoo flies off earlier than other birds, already at the end of July, and people say about it: “No matter how much the cuckoo crows, it will fly away by winter.”
In general, it is believed that the early departure of birds nesting here in the summer foreshadows the imminent onset of cold weather and an early and short autumn, and the late and shifting departure (not friendly) - to a long and warm autumn; Winter weather can't come soon enough.
Pre-winter
Deserted Forest
Late fall. The rooks flew away, the forest was exposed, the fields were empty. Nikolay Nekrasov
A golden leaf is already covering the wet ground in the forest... I boldly trample with my foot the beauty of the spring forest. Apollo Maykov
A sign of this time is leaf fall. When the temperature passes through 0, the moisture contained in the cutting freezes and it breaks off. The leaf makes a quiet farewell flight...
Empty forest. © S.Borisov | Shutterstock.com
It's a busy time for motorists to change their tires. Summer tires at temperatures below +5 lose their properties and do not provide proper grip. As snow events become more frequent, deep autumn resigns its powers.
snow powder
Fog lay over the fields, a caravan of noisy geese stretched to the south: a rather boring time was approaching; It was already November outside the yard. Alexander Pushkin
The average date for the formation of temporary snow cover is October 28, and it also opens the gates to the pre-winter. The weather becomes chilly and windy. Snow falls, lies a little, but still melts. The streets are getting slushy.
First snow. © Lutsan Pavlo | Shutterstock.com
Autumn changes in wildlife
For plants, autumn is a thorough preparation for the winter period, when all of them (living in natural conditions) go into hibernation: vital activity and the exchange of juices decreases many times over.
With the onset of cold weather, insects hide and hibernate.
This is a protective reaction to lower temperatures. Many insects (such as flies and beetles) crawl into cozy crevices and appear dead at first glance. But that's not true. When spring comes, they will come to life and fly again.
Cold-blooded animals "fall asleep" as a result of the fact that they cannot maintain the temperature necessary for existence.
Snakes, frogs, reptiles and amphibians all hibernate in late fall.
At the very beginning of autumn, birds prepare to fly to warmer climes. Then their flight begins. Wintering birds do not fly anywhere and feed intensively in the autumn forests.
Some mammals also hibernate in late fall and early winter.
But this is most likely due not to the onset of cold weather, but to the lack of food supply for them in winter. Such animals include: bear, badger, marmot, hedgehog, some rodents (gopher, hamster, dormouse).
Hibernating mammals intensively accumulate weight in order to use their own fat for warmth and nutrition during the winter cold.
Thus, the animal world is preparing for the approach of the winter cold period, reacting differently to autumn changes in nature.
K. Paustovsky said beautifully about autumn:
“More than all the seasons, I love and pity autumn, perhaps because it has very little time allotted for its rustling and flying life.”
AUTUMN CHANGES
IN NATURE
Prepared by:
Minkin Egor
Student 2 "A" class
Every autumn, the animals in the forest carefully prepare for the difficult period of the year. Food is stored in their pantries, holes are insulated, summer coats are exchanged for winter ones.
Who flew away and who stayed
Those birds that cannot feed themselves in winter fly away from our places in the fall.
Most of the seeds fall to the ground and end up under the snow.
And many birds feed on the seeds of grasses, trees, and shrubs. For some birds, the main food is insects; with the onset of cold weather, they disappear: some die, others hide. Frogs, toads, and fish become inaccessible to birds.
It is difficult to catch mice and other small animals that have taken refuge under deep snow cover or hibernated.
So cranes, geese, and seagulls are moving in shoals and lines to warmer climes.
Birds that remain to spend the winter in our forests make provisions for themselves in the fall. The jay selects the largest acorns and hides them under the moss, under the roots, and buries them in the foliage.
The nuthatch picks up hazel nuts, linden nuts and maple wings and drives them into the cracks of tree bark at high altitudes. Little owls make curious supplies. They hide killed mice and small passerine birds in hollows.
Those who can't fly
Trees cannot part with their trunk and branches for the winter and hide underground.
They do things differently: they shed their leaves. Leaves need a lot of moisture. And the water in the soil freezes in winter and the roots cannot pump it out. In addition, leaves in winter would only harm the tree. Under the weight of the snow adhering to them, branches and twigs would break. Losing leaves does not hurt: there are no wounds on the branches from fallen leaves, if in the summer the petioles of the leaves are firmly connected to the branches, because nutrients move along them, then in the fall, where the petiole is attached to the branch, a special cork layer grows and gradually, like a partition, separates petiole from a branch.
Herbs hide underground
These cunning creatures part with the above-ground part of the plant.
The main thing for them is to save the underground pantry - a rhizome, tuber or bulb in which nutrients accumulated in the summer. In spring, these reserves will help to quickly revive the stem and leaves.
About the inhabitants of the forest
By winter, the squirrel makes a large, warm hollow, with tow, squirrel hair and down stuck into all the walls.
In one corner there are dried mushrooms, in another - nuts, in the third - apples. Beavers strengthen dams and repair lodges. Bears in deep forest thickets are looking for a place for a den, where they will hibernate from the beginning of winter.
A hungry fox wanders along the banks of rivers and streams, looking out for young, inexperienced ducks. Insects: beetles, spiders, flies hide in cracks in the bark of trees and bushes, hide under leaves, overwinter in dry stumps and snags.
“Chilled” worms and... grain intervention
Moles make deep underground passages and hide earthworms in them: the mole bites the head of its victim and the worms cannot move, although they remain alive, so the mole always has fresh food in winter.
The gray vole living in the field stores in its burrows two or three kilograms of grains of wheat, millet, rye, and as a seasoning for this - leaves and roots of many herbs.
And the bank vole prepares nuts, acorns, maple wings, linden nuts, and various berries.
What are people doing at this time?
For example, for the tenants of the Charysh forestry, and there are more than 50 of them, as the forester of the Charysh forestry Pyotr Kisly told us about, autumn is especially troublesome.
Hay is harvested from July to September, and when the road “goes up” it is taken out. Almost all the cattle have already been put into stalls with the first snow. But the horses continue to graze in the snow, shoveling it and getting dry grass. And so on until spring. In the spring, the breeding stock of horses is kept in stalls, and the young animals remain in the forest.
Beekeepers, according to tenant Denis Kucherenko from the Solton forestry, collect bees for the winter with the first frosts; by the way, some have bees overwintering in the wild, while others have bees in omshaniks.
Ekaterina Ivanova, director of the Priobye hunting farm, says:
“Both wild animals and we humans are preparing for winter. We prepare food so that during the winter “crisis” wild animals can feed on our sites.
If we talk about long-term observations of animals, they most often change their “clothes” for winter; there are many peculiarities in their behavior. The earth is still black, but the hare is already white. The boar grows an undercoat that is saturated with sebaceous glands and will not get wet in winter! Wild boars live together in the same territory for years and winter here; they do not tend to make “housing” wherever they have to - they dug a ditch in the swamp to a warm, thawed place and this is their home.
The elk is also not picky, where night falls is its home. The elk are in their rut in the fall, calling for females, scratching their antlers on a tree, thus shedding them.
The lynx becomes even more beautiful in winter - its coat turns white. If you meet her, you will be amazed, she will never run away cowardly, this huge cat will proudly turn around and walk away with her family from your path with dignity. But in general, in the fall, animals everywhere have a mating season, and in the spring there will be babies, some of them - up to 15 for a wild boar, one or two calves for an elk, one or two kittens for a lynx.
FORESTMAN'S PAGE
First winter
First snowstorms
The dug-up road sleeps. Today she dreamed that there was just a little time left to wait for the gray winter... Sergei Yesenin
Climatic autumn usually ends on November 10, when the average daily temperature steadily passes through 0. The first winter is the time of the first snowfalls and the first daytime “minuses”. Snow cover is becoming more and more stable and the long-term average falls on November 28th. However, in recent history there have been cases when it remained lying until spring from October 31st, and sometimes appeared only after the New Year.
Autumn is also greeted by clothes
Over the summer, children get used to not being forced to wear a hat or jacket. Unless you have to dress warmer for a few days during cold weather. But they know that the time will come when they can run to the river in shorts again.
One day, the parents put on rubber boots, a hat and a jacket for the child. Signs of autumn can be seen even in outerwear. The child may not understand why he is being tortured so much. Not all children like to be warmly dressed, because they do not understand that it is cold outside and autumn has come.
It's time to tell your child about the signs of autumn. For children, so that they don’t get offended or sad, it’s enough to show them a lot of interesting things on the street while walking. It is clear that in September there are not many signs of autumn yet, many trees are still green, so it is best to talk about migratory birds, for example. It is advisable for an adult to remember his childhood; probably, as a child, he calmed down when he saw his friend also in a warm jacket and hat. It is important to give girls a bright umbrella.
And soon the New Year!
At the end of November, most often the weather is no longer the same as in September and October. The trees are completely bare, there is already snow. But this is not a reason to be sad. New Year is ahead. Green fir trees grow in the forest. They will bring joy to any child. At school and at home, the lesson “Signs of Autumn” can be replaced with the topic “Winter has come.” The holiday lifts the spirits of children and adults. After all, there is a beautiful live Christmas tree at home, which is decorated with toys, tinsel and rain. You need to be able to share interesting, educational and useful things with children. Why is this said? People start to feel sad in the fall, so they get sick and constantly want to sleep. Schoolchildren feel all this too. They need to be cheered up. After all, all seasons are good. After a dull autumn comes a snow-white winter. Snowflakes are another inanimate object of nature; they have a very complex but beautiful pattern.
The topic “Signs of Autumn” for children should be revealed not only in words and definitions, but also through living examples. It's easier to remember what's interesting. It is better to learn to distinguish the signs of autumn in living and inanimate nature in order to understand how everything happens and what is interconnected with what.
