You may be just starting to think about fall foliage, but a Virginia forestry expert says the season’s arc has probably already been set — and it doesn’t look to be a great one.
The state posted a drought watch advisory in effect for Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, and a more serious drought warning in effect for much of the Shenandoah area.
Ellen Powell, conservation education coordinator with the Virginia Department of Forestry, says that the drought warnings and watches are worrisome, and the heat and lack of rain over the summer “has done a lot of the damage.”
“We had extreme heat, and a pretty severe dry period of weather,” Powell says. “And whenever that happens, the trees are under more stress than they normally would be. And because they’re stressed, they’ll start to shut down early.”
There’s always hope, she says, “but in general it’ll start a little earlier and be a bit shorter and maybe less dramatic.”
That’s because photosynthesis takes away moisture from the trees, and if they’re dry already, they’ll just decide, “I give up for the year,” she says.
So the foliage season will likely start earlier. Many trees start off by turning yellow — generally the first stage, because the color is already in the leaves, merely covered by the green — and this year, many of them probably won’t get much farther before they shed their leaves and pack it in for the winter, she says.
What Could Help Fall Colors
Provided we have a good cool September and October, with clear nights and some decent rain that doesn’t come with tropical winds, we could see some decent reds and oranges. Those colors happen when sugars are trapped inside the leaves as they seal themselves off and get ready to fall, Powell points out.
But many of the leaves will fall off before they get that far, she adds: “There’s still going to be red; I just think some of it’s going to be sooner and shorter-lived.”
It’ll be even worse along the ridges and farther south, where drought conditions are worse. “Some trees will just go straight to brown,” Powell says. “They might look like they’ve been killed. But they haven’t.”
Powell is in the Charlottesville area, and she says there are already some red patches on trees around there, as well as pink on dogwood trees: “That is super early.”
The real concern is in areas that saw droughts last year too, she says. That means some trees could be susceptible to diseases that could take them down.
Powell takes care to point out that this is all relative when it comes to foliage.
“Virginia fall color is always pretty, and most people forget from year to year that maybe last year was slightly prettier. This year is still going to be pretty; it just might not be the same. It’s going to change and it’s going to be pretty.”
Feature image courtesy @hdbyler/IG
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