If you watch TV, you are bound to be aware of a marketing strategy TV producers use to attract viewers to new shows or, perhaps, new seasons of old shows. During commercial breaks, they broadcast clips from the shows.
It’s all “Coming Soon!” and “Coming This Fall!” The idea is to give viewers a taste of the show to build anticipation. We’ll see the clip, think to ourselves, “Hey, that looks interesting,” and make a mental note to “tune in in September.”
That’s how it works with TV. It’s a time-tested strategy for building an audience.
But, on occasion, the idea of teasing people with “Coming Attractions” spills over into other areas.
Take weather for example.
Fall, according to the calendar, is still a month away. In our part of the world, the calendar is less than reliable where the beginning of the seasons are concerned. We have learned that the best seasons — spring and fall — usually arrive late, leave early and are routinely interrupted by rain. Perhaps because spring and fall are so precarious, so brief, we look forward to them with great anticipation.
Today through Thursday are likely to whet our appetite for fall — sunny skies, low temps, low humidity. Chamber of Commerce weather, they call it.
According to the Accuweather forecast, the high today will be 85 degrees, seven degrees below the average, but that’s not the best part. The overnight low — and this is not a misprint — will be 56 degrees, which is not only 13 degrees below the average, but smashes the old record for low temperature on this date, set in 1969, by a full five degrees.
Wednesday will be gloriously mild, too, with a high of 84 and a low of 57. Thursday, the high is 86, the low 61.
This is front-porch-sitting, take-the-dog-for-a-long-walk-even-if-you-have-to-borrow-a-dog weather, y’all, and we would be wise to take advantage of it. It won’t last.
By Friday, the temperature will be back to normal for his time of year, the low 90s. A week from today, the high is projected to be 94 because, you know, Mississippi summers don’t give up without a fight.
We understand this. We know what the weather we will enjoy over the next few days is not the arrival of fall, but a preview of “Coming Attractions” and, as is often the case with TV programs, the previews are often better than the shows themselves.
We hope you will find a way to make the most of this cool snap.
It seems a shame to waste what we always seem to have too little of.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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