If you're ready for Fall foliage in Tennessee, you may have to wait a while longer. In fact, peak season these days may be in a month that begins with an in and not an oh. Hello, I'm Charles Denny. This is Agcast, brought to you by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
Last year, the autumn colors were beautiful around Knoxville, per usual. It just seemed to take a while for them to get here. Researchers at UT's Institute of Agriculture say the peak season for autumn colors is happening later and later in many years, usually stretching into November. In 2017, we were still seeing lots of colorful leaves on trees right up to Thanksgiving.
As for 2018, Wayne Clatterbuck with forestry, wildlife and fisheries at UTIA says early predictions are for most of Tennessee to have a spectacular fall color-wise. For leaf color to occur to get the vibrant colors, you want to be someplace in between. You don't want to have too much rain or too little rain. If you have too little rain, leaves just turn brown and fall off.
If you have too much rain, the vibrant colors are not as vibrant. Clatterbuck says conditions are shaping up across the state for a nice fall. In Wayne's world, for the best colors, you want warm sunny days and cool nights. When it comes to foliage, Clatterbuck says Tennessee is right up there with any state in the nation.
Yeah, we have more than 80 different species of hardwood trees. And each species has its own little pattern. So it all comes together in a mosaic, if that's the best way of putting it, to give you that vibrant color. We'll have some trees that turn color earlier and we'll have some trees that turn color later.
So how much later? Happy birthday to me. I'll turn a year older October 20th. Feel free to celebrate accordingly.
But I point out that date, October 20th, because that used to just about be the peak time for fall foliage in Tennessee. Now flip over to the next month on the calendar. In the past, it used to be peak colors, seemed to be the Alabama football weekend, but it's delayed at least in the lower elevations about a week or so. And it's getting to be peak color is like Halloween and into the first week of November now, especially in the valleys.
And we think that is largely based on temperature. Mainly on temperature, yes, sir. Clatterbuck says we've experienced climate variability, warmer temperatures later in fall, and the leaves are responding. But a late fall and longer viewing season is a good thing, especially when it comes to tourism in the Smokies, where color happens earlier in higher elevations.
To higher elevations where you have cooler temperatures, leaf color will happen sooner. And as you progress down to the lower slopes, to the valleys, that color changes at later time. So in Tennessee, it's pretty neat because you'll have a long time for leaf color if you are willing to go from different elevations and so forth. This season is called fall because leaves fall to the ground.
But experts say trees are more proactive than just allowing wind to take leaves away. Many trees produce a hormone in cooler days that causes the leaves to sever themselves from branches. When a leaf changes color, technically it's dying. But what a spectacular finale.
Color is coming, just be patient. It's almost always worth the wait. Thanks for listening, I'm Charles Denny. For more real life solutions provided by the UT Institute of Agriculture, go to our website at ag.tenacy.edu.