Fall color impacts

The month of September started out cool and very Fall-like. The cool nights, with lows in the 40s, caused trees around Michiana to begin to change color.

The cooler air and shorter days causes the chlorophyll to breakdown in the leaves, which gives it the bright green color. As the chlorophyll breaks down, the array of beautiful colors begin to show through before the leaf falls off the tree. The other colors have been there all along but the chlorophyll is dominant, blocking the colors from showing.

The best fall colors form when we have sunny and warm days with cool overnight lows and plenty of rain. While Michiana has seen warm bright days, our overnight lows have greatly varied and we have been lacking rainfall.

In the last week, we have seen a quick turn in temperatures with highs even reaching into the low 90s! The warm up along with the lack of rainfall may affect the length of time we have to view the fall colors this season.

The leaves have already started changing color and typically peak colors happen during the middle of October.