WASHINGTON — "We love the fall of the year, we love the colors of the trees, we love the changing of the summer into fall, we love the weather," explains Carol, a 40-year resident of DC. She walks Rock Creek Park every morning with her friend. Five days a week. Six miles at least. Sometimes seven. And she really has a great appreciate for our changing leaves. "It's such a great time of the year.
And while the changing of the leaves is oftentimes associated with the cooler temperatures of fall, it's really the change in day length and temperature swings that bring the season's bright colors.
"What's especially good is a big difference between night temperature and day temperature, which helps degrade the chlorophyll and let's us see and, in some cases, increase the other pigments that are in there," says Joe Sullivan, a Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Sullivan adds, "If you look at the leaves [in this red bud] you see a green leaf, but all the other colors are actually in there right now, what has to happen for that to see the bright colors is the chlorophyll has to degrade or be or be broken down."
While we're still weeks away from peak fall foliage in the region - which is expected closer to the end of October - you've probably already noticed some trees turning, or in some cases, losing their leaves completely.
"It doesn't mean we're having an early fall," says Sullivan. " It is what we call eco dormancy, which means that the environmental conditions are causing those trees to lose some leaves and you didn't see colors for right they turned pretty much brown and then fell off. And that's a drought stress condition."
Years with drought conditions have a tendency to lead to duller than normal colors, which is a concern for areas along the Blue Ridge Mountains where severe drought conditions persist. The farther east you go, the better drought conditions are. And the metro DC area is on track for great fall foliage.
"Not really dry, not super wet," explains Sullivan. "So right we're doing pretty well right now."
As leaves continue to turn, we want to see your fall foliage pictures. Just upload them to the Near Me section of our free WUSA9 app.