CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Fall officially begins Tuesday for meteorologists, but someone apparently forgot to tell West Virginia’s weather.
The first day of meteorological fall is expected to feel decidedly like summer across much of the state. The National Weather Service is forecasting a high near 94 degrees Tuesday in Charleston, following highs around 91 Sunday and 93 Monday. Even in the mountains, temperatures will be unusually warm, with Beckley expected to reach about 88 Tuesday.
As hot as that sounds for early fall, West Virginia has experienced far worse September heat. Charleston reached 104 degrees on Sept. 1, 1932, and repeated that temperature on each of the following two days, according to National Weather Service climate records.
The unusual combination of a new season and midsummer temperatures illustrates something important about autumn: There is more than one way to determine when it begins.
Why does fall begin Sept. 1?
Meteorologists divide the year into four seasons consisting of three complete calendar months, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Meteorological spring includes March, April and May; summer includes June, July and August; fall includes September, October and November; and winter includes December, January and February.
According to NOAA, the system makes it easier for scientists to calculate and compare seasonal climate statistics because the seasons begin on the same dates every year and consist of complete months.
Astronomical seasons work differently. Earth’s position relative to the sun determines them. Astronomical fall in 2026 doesn’t begin until the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22.
That leaves West Virginians with an apparent contradiction Tuesday: Fall will officially have begun by one widely used scientific definition while temperatures in some of the state’s lower elevations climb well into the 90s.
September can still be hot in West Virginia
Meteorological fall should not be confused with the arrival of consistently cool weather, particularly in West Virginia’s lower elevations.
National Weather Service climate records show that Charleston’s average September temperature is 68.3 degrees, based on the 1991–2020 climate normals, but individual Septembers have varied considerably during the city’s long weather record.
The warmest September on record in Charleston was in 1931, when the month averaged 76.2 degrees. September 2019 was the third warmest on record, averaging 74.9 degrees.
Elevation makes a substantial difference. Beckley’s normal September temperature is 64.7 degrees, while Elkins averages 64.1 degrees, roughly four degrees cooler than Charleston’s September normal.
The difference becomes even more apparent in temperature extremes. Charleston has reached 104 degrees in September, while Beckley’s September record high is 93, showing how dramatically West Virginia’s elevation can influence the season from one part of the state to another.
West Virginia is already losing daylight quickly
Even when temperatures remain summerlike, another sign of the approaching season is increasingly difficult to miss: The days are getting shorter.
In Charleston, daylight lasted about 14 hours and seven minutes on Aug. 1. By Aug. 31, it will have declined to about 13 hours and two minutes, according to astronomical calculations published by Timeanddate.com.
That’s a loss of more than an hour of daylight in a single month. As the Northern Hemisphere moves toward the September equinox, the changing angle of the sun and declining solar energy help drive the broader seasonal transition toward cooler conditions.
West Virginia Explorer publisher David Sibray said he prefers the meteorological calendar because it corresponds more closely with when he begins noticing the transition.
“If you think about it, it really starts to feel like fall about Sept. 1, though we might not know it in the low-lying regions this year,” Sibray said. “I like to get my seasons underway early.”
In the highest mountains, fall really does come early
West Virginia’s dramatic changes in elevation mean autumn doesn’t arrive everywhere at once. Warm western and southwestern valleys can remain summerlike while some of the highest Allegheny Mountain valleys are already experiencing chilly nights.
National Weather Service freeze climatology shows how pronounced that difference can be. In eastern Tucker and Randolph counties, the average first 32-degree temperature arrives around mid-September. Across much of the remainder of West Virginia’s northern mountains, the average first freeze generally follows later in September.
Much of eastern and north-central West Virginia typically experiences its first freeze by early October, while parts of southwestern West Virginia generally don’t record their first freeze until mid- to late October.
The result is a rolling arrival of autumn that can take more than a month to progress from West Virginia’s coldest mountain valleys into some of its warmest lowlands.
West Virginia actually experiences several versions of fall
The calendar isn’t the only measure of the changing season. Meteorological fall begins Sept. 1. Astronomical fall arrives with the equinox Sept. 22. The first freezing temperatures can reach the state’s coldest mountain valleys during September, while West Virginia’s best-known sign of autumn — its fall foliage — follows yet another schedule.
Color generally begins developing first in the highest Allegheny Mountain landscapes before spreading into progressively lower elevations. The state’s principal foliage season typically extends from late September through October, although temperature, rainfall, wind and other conditions can alter its timing from year to year.
That progression means autumn can already be well underway around Canaan Valley and other high-elevation landscapes while lower communities remain comparatively green and warm.
Rather than arriving on a single day, fall effectively rolls across West Virginia, driven not only by the calendar but by latitude, elevation and weather.
So when will it actually feel like fall?
Not Tuesday, at least across much of West Virginia. The forecast for Friday still shows a warming trend through the weekend and into early September. Charleston is forecast to reach about 91 Sunday, 93 Monday and 94 Tuesday, while Beckley is expected to reach about 88 on Tuesday.
Forecasts become less certain farther out, and September is a transition month that can produce both summer heat and substantially cooler weather.
But the seasonal machinery is already moving. Nights are lengthening, average temperatures are beginning their autumn decline, and the first freezing nights of the season are climatologically only weeks away in West Virginia’s coldest mountain valleys.
So when the calendar turns to Sept. 1, fall really will have arrived. West Virginia just might have to experience its first days of autumn in the mid-90s.
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