[Cambium]

Curious what will happen here this Fall with the colors after the 12 inches of rain past 5 weeks and lack of sun this summer..


"Drought during spring and early summer may signal the plant to form the sealing barriers to leaves earlier, shutting down and turning color sooner than usual.

So while moisture is good earlier in the season, too much later in the season means more clouds, less sun, and more muted colors. Too much rain in fall, and strong winds, may cause many leaves to fall prematurely.

Cooler temperatures in late summer and plenty of sunshine, often leads to brighter colors sooner. This is particularly true if the sealing layer on leaf stems has started forming. Cool is good, but too cold (as freezing or below) can be bad, killing leaves early.

Ideal for fall color would be a moist growing season early, dry late summer and early fall, with sunny warm days and cool nights during the latter."

https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/fallleaves.html

[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Curious what will happen here this Fall with the colors after the 12 inches of rain past 5 weeks and lack of sun this summer..


"Drought during spring and early summer may signal the plant to form the sealing barriers to leaves earlier, shutting down and turning color sooner than usual.

So while moisture is good earlier in the season, too much later in the season means more clouds, less sun, and more muted colors. Too much rain in fall, and strong winds, may cause many leaves to fall prematurely.

Cooler temperatures in late summer and plenty of sunshine, often leads to brighter colors sooner. This is particularly true if the sealing layer on leaf stems has started forming. Cool is good, but too cold (as freezing or below) can be bad, killing leaves early.

Ideal for fall color would be a moist growing season early, dry late summer and early fall, with sunny warm days and cool nights during the latter."

https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/fallleaves.html

Some red maples in the swamps of Thompson (northeast corner of CT) are already turning...

[Cambium]

an important reminder, make your plans now to see the foliage

"the cooler weather plays a big factor in when trees start to turn. End of September, we really need some overnights in the upper 30s to get the trees to start turning colors.”

So if all goes according to plan, and we don’t have an unusually warm fall, peak foliage is expected here in Connecticut Oct. 9-11 for the northwest and northeast hill towns, then working south toward the shoreline by mid-November.

https://twitter.com/NBCConnecticut/s...krZEFS78Q&s=19

[Cambium]

Are you guys going to do some sight seeing??


https://www.fox61.com/article/featur...6-7c4f3ba29e6a

'Fantastic' outlook | No shades of grey; fall colors are coming to Connecticut

The drenching rains that hit the state hard over the summer will have some benefit in the weeks ahead, according to Will Healey from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

It leads to the trees hold their green color for longer, but once we have those cold overnight temperatures,” Healey said. "It is going to trigger that chemical reaction in the trees, so expect there will be a very synchronous fall foliage display this year."

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Are you guys going to do some sight seeing??

Bueller?

[in_newengland]

I'll wait a few days before leaf peeping but thanks for the update.

Funny, yesterday I found some old notes I had made and one said something like--Weird! Here it is Oct 8 and it's warm enough to go swimming! Feels strange to go out in a bathing suit in Oct but the temperature is 85!

That was exactly ten years ago and luckily I was living next to the beach in MA. And I did go swimming that day. I LOVE this warm, dry weather in October.

[Cambium]

A map of where I took the pictures below October 8, 2021. After next weekend the colors should really kick into gear with the cold airmass coming back

[Cambium]

What are the odds we'll get that much color in 7 days?


October 18, 2020 VS October 11, 2021


Foliage definitely changing later this year especially with these 70s this week now. Lets hope no snowstorms come soon.

[Stylo]

Took a drive through Bridgewater backroads. Very pretty but the overcast didn’t help the color pop. Very flat lighting. It is a beautiful town, though.

[in_newengland]

It's started to get nice here in central ct--just barely starting, but what's gorgeous right now are the glades of brightly colored wildflowers. Never noticed it before, maybe it's due to all the rain this summer but there are swathes of bright blue, pretty yellow, tiny autumn asters in white and lavender, and even the weedy places are looking bright and colorful. I felt like getting my old wildflower ID book out today--there were so many that I had never seen before.