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Archive 2014 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?

  
 
smcphotos
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


I know it's only August but I'm already anxious for Fall! I'm planning a trip to Colorado around the last week of September, which has worked nicely a couple of times I've been before.

Anyone have any early estimates on what the color will be like this year based on weather trends? It has been unseasonably cool here in Arkansas this summer.



Aug 12, 2014 at 07:39 PM
Darren K
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


The weather has nothing to do with when they turn. It will be impossible to tell exactly when they will go until they start, which is to say around the 12th when some idea can be formed.


Aug 12, 2014 at 07:58 PM
smcphotos
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


Thanks Darren. My point about weather is with regard to the quality of color. In Arkansas the weather trends (how wet or dry it has been) for the year are a good predictor of how good color will be overall.


Aug 12, 2014 at 09:30 PM
Darren K
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


Ah, yes you did! I totally didn't process that one. Usually, the question is when as opposed to how it will be, so I got caught in that rut. Well, two for one, then. The question is much easier to answer for how, and that would be it will be the same brilliance as it always is. I've really only ever seen one time when more than a few forests had brown leaves on a good portion of trees, which was about four or five years ago. However, that wasn't the case throughout the peak duration and hardly state-wide. Otherwise, the brown and mustard yellow will only occur after a substantial snowstorm, but in the case of the big 2006 storm, I saw a good rebound to the full brilliant yellow some days later. We had another big storm in 2011, and though I was out of the state for that one, I saw some pictures from a friend from a few locations and the day after the snow fell, the leaves went black at an impressive rate in whole forests. We also had quite a bit of snow last year a couple of times during peak season and I witnessed black leaves first-hand about a day later as well on some stands (not whole forests). This will mostly affect leaves that have already turned more than the ones that haven't. Multi-inch snowstorms are rare, though, and are a real treat if you get to experience the conditions immediately afterward. In the weeks or months leading up to peak color, the amount of moisture, or lack thereof, will have zero bearing on the color, or the timing, as I mentioned previously.

Anyway, aspen leaves don't seem to be as affected as the likes of the maple reds (from what I understand) in regards to color variation, of which the only reds we have are scrub oak and patches of aspens here and there. I will say that the scrub oak was absolutely crazy blazing last year (the whole range from their browns to a brilliant crimson and even some scarlet), which is the first time I can say I was ever taken aback by that. Whatever the case, there will always be great color to shoot somewhere between Steamboat and Silverton.

You wanted to talk autumn?



Aug 12, 2014 at 11:06 PM
smcphotos
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


Thanks, Darren. This is great info. I'm itching to get out there. I'll likely be out there between Sep. 20-28, and the two other times I was out there in the fall is was more around the 30th. So I might be a little early but I'm sure there will be SOME places with color at that earlier time.


Aug 13, 2014 at 10:14 AM
AMaji
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


Darren,
Thanks for the info. You are always a great help.



Aug 14, 2014 at 02:22 PM
stanparker
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Too Early to Talk Autumn?


Where will you be? In the San Juans, you can change elevation pretty easily, or even change overall location.


Aug 18, 2014 at 04:18 PM





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