The calendar has turned to October, which means the peak of fall in Iowa is here. One of the biggest signs of the changing of the seasons is the leaves on trees turning from green to red, yellow, orange, and purple.

Professor of Biology at Central College Paul Weihe says this year’s fall colors will likely peak sooner, due to the ongoing dry conditions across the state.

“I’m predicting that we will probably have a little bit earlier fall color, and also possibly a little bit shorter. I would that in our area, typical for us might be the middle of October and for a couple of weeks, and now I’m wondering if we might be the second week or even a little bit earlier in October, and perhaps a week and a half of really good color or even less than that.”

“It is because of the stress — the trees are under stress and it wasn’t just a little bit of a hot, dry season, it was for months we were having dry conditions across much of Iowa.”