Warm, dry weather delays fall foliage

With the recent warm and dry weather, expect to see peak foliage nearly a week later than usual this year. 

Eli Major, interpretive naturalist at the Brown County State Park, said for the beginning of October, the leaves are greener than usual. Some tree species, like Sassafras and Tulip, have started to change color slightly. But most are behind in changing color.

“A lot of these very light greens would be just a few shades darker in a lot of the colors,” he said. “Right now, some species, a lot of the oaks and hickories, haven't changed at all yet, but in a normal year, you'd start to see some lightning and coloring of leaves, a little more than we have now.”

Bloomington has seen highs of 80s in the last few weeks; Major said that warmer weather causes peak fall colors to come later. The lack of moisture also causes the colors to last less time. 

“If we don't get much rain, a four-week season could turn into a two-and-a-half-week season,” he said. “It could be more drastic than that, but there would still be at least a few days, I'd expect, more than a week's time of proper fall colors.”

Major expects to see more color change around Oct. 10, with peak foliage coming around the last week of October and first week of November.