Late August marks the end to many things: Summer vacation, afternoons by the pool, long days, and hot and steamy weather.

But why focus on what ends when you can focus on what begins. It’s time for The Great New York State Fair.

Ah, there are such possibilities in the air, like what fried food item will I indulge in, what will that beautiful butter sculpture look like, how much milk can I drink in one sitting? The other thing in the air — weather of course — can bring just about any weather you can think of.

Now getting into the nerdy numbers of it, the average highs for this time in August are pretty nice —upper 70s to near 80. The problem is we can get big swings in either direction of that range as well, with high humidity and changeable weather as we approach fall. Long time State Fair goers have all the stories to tell from sweltering heat waves and humidity to cool and rainy days that make you give that chilled milk a second thought. Good thing I have given this year’s fair outlook some careful consideration and have a short-term and long-term outlook.

There is no doubt about it. The start of the fair will bring warmth, humidity, and storms. But if you can plan on bringing the rain gear and plan your trip by dodging raindrops in all the wonderful buildings on the fairgrounds, then you’ll be fine. Once we get past day one of the fair we will be greatly rewarded with cooler and quieter conditions. From day two right through the weekend we will be dry and comfortable in the 70s. We will warm up next week from Monday into the midweek but still look dry with highs in the 80s. Late next week into the second weekend of the fair will feature some showers and storms, even the risk for a few storms on Labor Day as it currently stands. One thing I can say, it doesn’t look to ever get too hot.

Now that we got the weather out of the way, we need to discuss all the fun of the fair! For me it’s getting that perfectly chilled milk at the dairy building the minute I step onto the fairgrounds. But milk by itself is not as fun as it is with cheesecake on a stick. And hey, why not? It’s literally right across from the milk — I think done by design. Enjoying these treats while looking at the butter sculpture is like getting the quintessential fair experience all in like five minutes. The rest of my time at the fair is spent just taking in the sights while enjoying some local Finger Lakes Wine slushies and seeing where my nose takes me.