Where have all the colors gone?
Oldtimers may remember the song by Peter Paul and Mary “Where have all the flowers gone.” I was at the hospital this week for an MRI Scan and you got to choose the music during the 45-minute scan and this song was played along with other oldies from my era.
As I was driving this past week I was constantly reminded about the lack of color along our roadways and in our forests and constantly thought of the song.
Our trip to Deep Creek last week was not only lacking color but the leaves had already fallen from the trees and it was on the dull side. Same was true for our local mountains and trips along the Uniontown bypass.
In late September the talk was all about how beautiful the colors would be due to the abundant rains and sunshine that we had experienced. Several travel websites voted the Laurel Highlands as the best in the entire country for fall foliage viewing.
I too was promoting a great season for viewing the colors.
What happened?
Probably a combination of weather events led to the lack of colors, among them the rains and sunshine that kept the production of chlorophyll going later than usual.
Then on Oct. 11 we had 2.36 inches of rain and a lot of wind knocked off a good bit of the leaves before they could show their colors.
As you may know, the colors are in the leaves all season but the stronger green dominates until the weather cools and the rains subside. Several mornings of heavy frost and freeze also knocked off more of the leaves.
The nice part of our fall season was the 25 sunny, beautiful days we had in October, including 14 in a row from the 18th until the end of the month.
Many of our October days were sunny, cloudless, and accompanied by low humidity, calm winds and very comfortable temperatures. Great days to play a round of golf take a hike or get in a bike ride.
The super EL Nino weather pattern that has developed has been kind to Southwestern Pennsylvania as it allowed the Bermuda High pressure weather system to park itself over our area and bring us all the nice weather.
Interesting that weather along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts has been very unusual with high tides and monster waves doing lots of damage to coastal properties.
Also the 100-degree-plus heat that plagued the west has finally begun to subside. Temperatures above 110 were common over much of the summer along with the usual fires, and now torrential rains are falling in some of these dry areas causing flash floods.
When you think about the emerging weather patterns you may want to skip the idea of retirement along coastal areas with their rising sea levels and the Southwest with its relentless heat, and focus on areas like ours with a four-season climate that may be out of harm’s way of the changing climate patterns of the future.
One last thought about the colors is the amount of fall color and beauty that exist in our urban areas in these last few days of October and first few days of November. A lot of homeowners and parks and recreational areas have planted the red maples and oaks along with other colorful trees and bushes that are now at their peak colors. The attached photo is of a red maple that graces the front of our home in Uniontown.