ST. LOUIS – We are moving quickly towards the peak of the fall color season in Missouri and Illinois, and this year’s season may come and go quickly.
The cycle begins back in spring as the trees start to bud under ever-increasing sunlight and warmth. Through the summer, our trees are bathed in a daily glow of bright sunshine, and the leaves glow a bright green! That’s because they are filled with chlorophyll, which absorbs the red and blue portions of the light spectrum but reflects green.
Throughout the summer, those green leaves go through the daily process of photosynthesis. Chlorophyll is key to the process because it converts the energy of the sun into chemical energy—the kind needed to feed trees and help them to grow.
During the fall, as the sun gets lower on the horizon, daylight decreases and temperatures begin to cool. The chlorophyll in the leaves starts to breakdown, leaving behind the original pigments found inside the leaves.
Yellow leaves are the result of xanthophyl. Orange leaves come from carotene and the bright red leaves result from anthocyanin. Those are fancy words that translate into vibrant fall colors!
The warm days and cool nights of the past several weeks have really helped to amplify the colors beyond what we might normally expect considering the dry weather of the past few months.
At the moment, the colors are really starting to pop. However, early next week there will be several days of gusty winds and very warm/dry weather. This may strip a good amount of the color out of the trees because the stems are dry and brittle.
What’s left will be impacted by a decent round of rain that is taking shape near Halloween. Both of these factors mean this coming weekend may turn into the best weekend of the fall color season in the St. Louis area. So plan accordingly.
