Mother Nature’s thrown Iowa a few curve balls this fall, making it difficult for people who love looking at the oranges, yellows and reds of autumn to know when and where to go.
Chip Murrow, an urban forestry program specialist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says some parts of Iowa have trees that are already bare, while others are still fully leafed out and mostly green. The wide weather swings share part of the blame.
“Warmer temperatures have kept some leaves green until we finally got that cold snap. That’s what caused the fall colors to come in then, and that was mainly what the trees were waiting for,” Murrow says. “Warmer temperatures can confuse the trees with, ‘Hey, we still should be growing,’ versus the cold temperatures that let them know that it’s time to be changing.”
The amount of daylight may also play a role in the color show, plus, species like black walnuts might drop their leaves early, while oaks typically keep them well into winter. So, where can Iowans still go for the best fall color show?
“As far as viewing, down around southern Iowa, since it’s a little more behind, it’d probably be a little more of the better area, or coming into it,” Murrow says. “The middle is kind of — right now — and I still think there might be a little up in the northeast, but everything’s got shifted back and shortened this year because of that warmer fall.”
While the recent weather has been unseasonably warm, the forecast calls for very cold temperatures and snow likely for this weekend. Murrow says that could spell the end of the fall color. Or not.
“This is where trying to guess what nature does is a whole ball of wax and makes it entertaining as a forester,” Murrow says. “It could be that with the cold snap we got, it’s enough to just kind of end the season, and we might not get much fall color, it might just be the leaves either turn quick or just drop.”
Typically, northern Iowa sees the leaves change color first, followed by central Iowa, then the south, although this year, parts of eastern Iowa have seen cold snaps that missed the rest of the state, prompting an earlier, faster fall in the east.