Break out the fleece: After hot summer, fall weather descends upon Central NY

Fall temperatures arrive in Upstate New York

Temperatures are expected to be cooler than normal next week, the first week of fall, in Upstate New York.

Syracuse, N.Y.—After another hot summer for Central New York, it looks like fall weather has come to stay.

A cold front that rolled through Upstate New York overnight brought an abrupt end to a stretch of summery weather and ushered in cool days and cooler nights just in time for the start of fall.

Gone are 80-degree days, replaced by afternoon highs in the 60s or even low 50s. And those shirtsleeve mornings in the 60s will now dip into the 40s.

Next week looks cooler than normal, according to the National Weather Service. Normal highs this time of year for Syracuse are in the low 70s, and lows are in the low 50s.

The autumnal equinox, which spells the beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere, happens at 9:03 p.m. today.

Central New York again endured a hot summer; the period from June 22 to Sept. 21 – roughly astronomical summer -- was the seventh-hottest on record, according to weather service archives. Last year was the third-hottest since records began in 1902.

In fact, seven of the hottest astronomical summers have come in the past 20 years as the world’s climate has heated up due to the burning of fossil fuels.

National Weather Service records are slightly different because the agency counts summer as the months of June, July and August. Under that measurement, 2022 was the 14th hottest summer on record for Syracuse. That’s because June was slightly below normal, so it offset some of the above-normal temperatures of July and August.

Upstate NY fall foliage map: Adirondacks, Catskills are beginning to look colorful

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