Warm, dry fall helping fall foliage hang on — but not for long
Dec. 12, 2024
By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Fast facts:
- Trees need cold temps to prompt leaf color change, fall
- Cold fronts, high winds should knock leaves down in the next few weeks
(448 words)
(Newsrooms: with images of December foliage in central Arkansas, https://flic.kr/p/2qzmXnt and https://flic.kr/p/2qzfJUs)
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ colorful foliage has had an unusually long run this fall. Sadly, it likely won’t last much longer, said Jaret Rushing, extension forestry instructor for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Just 10 days before the first day of winter, Central Arkansas was still alive with golds, browns and reds from hickories, maples and oaks.
Michael Blazier, dean of the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, said “I’ve been strongly suspecting a relatively warm fall for postponing the leaf senescence process.”
Senescence is the final act in a leaf’s life, when it changes color and falls from the tree. Trees need frosty temperatures to cue senescence.
Blazier offered a graph that showed the 150-year average autumn temperature, with red peaks indicating above-average and blue valleys showing below-average temperatures.
“2024 is the highest deviation from the long-term average temperature in the past 150 years,” he said. “And that higher-temp fall falls within a year that blows all prior years out of the water in terms of deviation from long-term temperature.”
Blazier also noted that “this fall's lengthy period without freezing temperatures likely made leaf color change particularly vibrant this year.”
Arkansas has also seen its share of drought. As of the first week of December, the United States Drought Monitor map showed nearly 75 percent of the state as being either abnormally dry or in some stage of drought.
Some rain did arrive in November, however.
“One thing to remember is that about the time when senescence was supposed to happen this year, we actually started getting rain again — finally,” Rushing said. “So trees were sucking up water and reallocating that water towards different parts of their crown and their branches and everything else.”
Rushing said that rainfall, plus the arrival of some frosts, could end the long fall show.
“In November, you start getting those winds coming in from the north as the jet stream shifts and starts to send cooler air south,” he said. “Whenever that happens and you get heavier winds, that typically aids in leaf fall.”
This November was relatively quiet from a freeze and storm perspective, Rushing said.
“I would estimate that we'll have complete leaf fall probably within a week-and-a-half to two weeks,” he said.
Rushing said he was getting quite a few calls about the leaves, including one from a squirrel hunter, who turned his dog out for a hunt.
“The dogs had a really good training episode but they can't find the squirrels in the trees because the leaves are too thick,” he said. Squirrel season in Arkansas started in May and runs through the end of February 2025.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media contact:
Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu