Pocono News Section

Will the Warm Weather Impact Our Fall Colors?

Will the Warm Weather Impact Our Fall Colors? - Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 9:39PM EST

? Reported by: Les Still
Thursday, Oct 4, 2007 @09:39pm EST

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY- The temperatures may feel more like July, but the calendar reads October. That means the leaves are changing colors. But will the warm & dry weather of the last couple of months have an impact on the colors this year?

The greatest free show on Earth is about to commence here in northeast and central Pennsylvania as the trees begin to display their colors.

While many of us have enjoyed these warm days recently the dry, warm fall so far will have a slight affect on our autumn colors.

Scranton City Forester Tony Santoli declared “It may not be quit peaked at Columbus Day, which it normally is. It may be a week or so later because of the dryness of the soil and the trees.”

A common misconception is that it’s the frosty nights that bring about the changing leaf color.

The vibrant colors of the leaves are actually there all the time. They are just masked by the green chlorophyll, which acts as the food of the tree. It’s the tree sensing the shorter daylight hours that start the process to reveal the brilliant colors during the fall.

“Mother nature lays down a layer of corky like cells at the base of every leaf. And this corky layer of cells stops nutrients and water from going into that leaf. Once that happens, the chlorophyll dissipates” explained Santoli.

It is then that the reds and yellows take over.

Tony said that there is only one real way to enjoy the display of color that we are about to see. “Get out and walk it. You’ll never regret it.”

Pennsylvania has 108 native species of trees and is also the largest grower of hardwood trees in the world.