REGIONAL— It’s been an unusual few weeks for fall color, with an early and vibrant change for many maples in the region, followed by weeks with far more muted colors as summery weather has lingered across the North Country.
A cool snap to start September prompted an initial burst of fall color, that peaked around Sept. 12-13. The region’s red maples responded quickly to the cool temperatures, which are one of the factors, in addition to day length, that determine the timing and brilliance of the fall color. For deciduous trees, the cool temperatures help signal it’s time to cease production of chlorophyll, which allows some of the other pigments found in leaves to show through. Sunshine also aids in that process by breaking down the existing chlorophyll more quickly.
The return of warm and cloudy conditions, which lingered through much of the latter half of September, slowed the color change, while the brilliant maple leaves that turned earlier in the month gradually fell, leaving the woods surprisingly muted at a time when we normally experience fall’s brilliance.
While day length is a major factor behind the changing fall colors, temperatures and sunshine do matter. And as our falls have grown milder over the past 25 years due to climate change, peak color and leaf fall are generally coming later.