Fall Color 2008 — Adirondack Mountains

Every year everyone in the Northeast United States tries to forecast when the amazing fall leaves will reach their peak color. The newspapers publish maps showing the color changes, and the tourists and local folks drive through the woods enjoying the show. In 2008, in the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains of New York, local observers agreed that fall leaf colors continued to peak later than they did in the past. Twenty years ago, the Columbus Day Weekend — around October 12th — was considered the average peak color in the Catskills. In the last few years, fall leaf color has peaked towards the end of October.

Local scientists have documented changes in the local climate that seem to provide clues to that change. Climate monitoring at the Mohonk Lake Cooperative Weather Station (reported by the Mohonk Preserve’s Daniel Smiley Research Center) shows that the average temperature has risen 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 112 years. The local growing season is now an average of ten days longer, too. If these changes continue, peak leaf color in the Catskill Mountains may become a November event — and the types of trees in our forests may also be affected by the new growing conditions.