Looking for all the fall colors? You might have to wait a bit longer than usual

Looking for the fall colors when spending time outdoors? You’ll likely have to wait a few more weeks to find them.

Mark Vitosh, an Iowa Department of Natural Resources forester whose district covers seven Eastern Iowa counties, said drier conditions and warmer weather have made trees in the region hold onto their green color longer than usual.

“I think things have stretched out a little bit with the warmer weather,” Vitosh said.

He said that as mild drought conditions have started growing across the state, leaves on the trees can actually turn brown, skipping the stages with bright shades of red, orange and yellow completely.

“I'm seeing a little bit of (browning) and it's going to keep going here the next couple of weeks, depending on temperatures and stuff,” Vitosh said. But “the other neat thing is, right now, because we're getting the yellows and some of the colors, a lot of the oaks are still green, but that really acts like a really nice spattering of color. Seeing that yellow and green mix and stuff adds to some of the beauty.”

In the Eastern Iowa region specifically, Vitosh said that the peak for autumn colors is typically mid-October. This fall, Vitosh said the peak will likely come a bit later in the month.

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The statewide average temperature in September was 67.1 degrees, which is 3.4 degrees above normal, according to State Climatologist Justin Glisan. Statewide precipitation totaled 1.70 inches, which is 1.78 inches below normal.

However, with some rain predicted to come later this week in the region, Vitosh said those traditional fall colors will likely pop soon.

Why do leaves change colors in the fall?

Vitosh said, in short, leaves start to change colors because the days begin to shorten in the autumn.

When leaves start changing from their typical green color to a shade of red, orange, yellow and sometimes purple, the tree is preparing to go dormant for the winter by shutting the leaves down.

With less sunlight, the leaves go through a chemical change that cause them to shift colors.

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“And what happens in those leaves, they start to develop what they call an abscission layer,” Vitosh previously told The Gazette’s Curious Iowa. “And that’s basically in what we call the petiole of the leaf, that’s the stem of the leaf that connects to the tree. And a corky substance starts to develop there.”

Where can Iowans go to enjoy the fall colors?

Despite the slower start to the changing leaves, Vitosh said there are some pockets in Linn County that are showing vibrant colors.

“I was at Palisades Kepler (State Park) and there's a lot of yellows and some of the reds of the maples really starting to show up,” Vitosh said. “So definitely things are starting to move, but I think they struggled out a little bit because it stayed so warm.”

Vitosh said that Lake Macbride State Park and Pinicon Ridge County Park near Central City have nice fall colors currently as well.

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Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com