There’s not a single tree in this picture, but it says autumn as well as any stand of brilliant red maples reproduced in full color. With all due respect to leaf peepers, Lake Michigan provides its own fall spectacles that have nothing to do with foliage. The season’s higher winds whip up waves as high as 20 feet, and cold-air masses from Canada moving across the still-warm lake form mountainous cloud banks on the horizon that allow Chicagoans to imagine, at least for a while, that the Rockies are just a short commute away. And those with the patience can watch for the migratory birds following the shoreline on their journey south to a clime where fall is not nearly so interesting.
– Projected increase in autumn precipitation in Illinois by 2100 due to global warming: up to 50 PERCENT.
– Rank of September among months named in popular song titles: 2. Rank of April: 1.
– Number of leaves a large tree will shed in the fall: up to 400,000.
