'Maximum clear days'

Early October in central Massachusetts.

-- Photo by JKB

"October is the truly autumnal month. The intensity of summer heat has faded, yet the cold sting of winter is still weeks ahead. Warm days, cool nights, and glorious autumn foliage are the normal delightful fare in New England. The number of clear days reaches its annual maximum, winds tend to be light, the horizon is dulled by a blue-gray haze -- weather conditions known in American lore as Indian Summer.''

But: "Though the tropical storm season is definitely on the wane by October, the month has produced some mighty hurricanes'' {affecting New England.

-- From New England Weather Book, by David Ludlum and the editors of Blair & Ketchum's Country Journal.