Autumn glows gold as month reaches windblown end

So much of autumn seemed to be on display in Washington on Friday, as a golden October ended amid great gusts of the famed west wind that is known in poetry as a symbol of the season Powered By

At Reagan National Airport, at least one gust reached 50 mph, and it came from the west.

On such a day, even those with the most prosaic of inclinations might have recalled one of the more celebrated lines of English poetry, “O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being …”

The line, which begins “Ode to the West Wind,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, seemed appropriate on a day that was clearly immersed autumn, and on which a sustained wind from the west reached 30 mph.

In many ways, Friday, with all its beauty, seemed only typical of Washington weather at this time of year. A bright sun shone from