The official start to fall is less than a month away, but some trees around the Pittsburgh area are already starting to show color. This color isn’t traditional fall foliage though. This color isn’t traditional fall foliage, though.
Changing leaves are sign of heat stress
Luke Werner, the district manager at Davey Tree Expert Company in Gibsonia, says most of western Pennsylvania’s fall color and fall leaf drops come later in the year, so when these trees are really stressed due to heat and drought, they’re going to go into their fall foliage and fall colors a little bit earlier.
“The trees, when they have a lack of water, they kind of have to prioritize what that water is going to. So as far as chlorophyll production, photosynthesizing, that type of thing, a lot of times it can result in some early leaf change in color, and even, like, a dull fall color,” Werner said.
After a wet spring and first half of summer, conditions quickly dried out in mid-July. This sudden drop in precipitation accompanied by heat stressed out some trees. There are certain trees that more readily reveal symptoms of heat and drought stress. These include birch, willows and maples…