Fall is in the air in south central Iowa, and the Iowa DNR has issued its first regular Fall Color report.

Although nothing has been reported locally, colors are starting to change elsewhere in the state, with peak viewing along and south of Interstate 80 between the 2nd and 3rd week of October. Dr. Paul Weihe is a Professor of Biology at Central College, and says there have been several years in a row with a drought in the summer, which creates stress on trees, and could nullify the strength of the showing this fall again.

“What I’m finding is that some of the trees do seem to have curled, brown leaves — they’re already dry and they’re not doing as well anyways, so going into the fall they are not going to be producing those colors — those trees stressed in that way are not going to have as much color,” he says. “Other trees that have been looking pretty green going into September, they’re probably going to go ahead and produce those fall colors and it will be similar to what we’ve seen.”

“With the drought, probably [the change] will be delayed, and we probably won’t have as much vibrancy of the colors, and perhaps it might be a shorter season if the trees are stressed.”

Hear more from Weihe about nature’s transformation from summer to autumn on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.