There were hints — see the colour of the leaves falling from trees in the city — that summer was coming to end.

Saturday morning at 8:49 a.m., summer officially came to an end with the start of the fall equinox.

After a wet start in June, in which we had 166 per cent of our normal rainfall, the rest of summer was drier than average, especially September.  We’ve had just 1.4 millimetres of rain this month, well below the average of 41.7 millimetres.  

It’s also been a warm summer in Calgary. After a cool, below average month of June, temperatures in July and August were two degrees above average and this month almost five degrees above average.

According to 660 Meteorologist David Spence, it appears that trend will continue as the seasons change.  Spence is predicting more warm and dry weather to kick off the fall season.  

Saturday marks the start of astronomical autumn, the time of the year when the sun’s rays are directly over the equator.