Get your cameras ready: Fall foliage is creeping toward its peak in Centre County
One of Mother Nature’s most vibrant displays is inching toward its crescendo in central Pennsylvania.
Peak fall foliage is about two to three weeks away in Centre County, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Marc Abrams, a Penn State professor of forest ecology and physiology, tempered expectations in a statement Wednesday for a particularly eye-catching foliage season.
The Keystone State was set up for a “banner year” through the summer, Abrams said, but is now looking at a somewhat muted and delayed display because of a warm, wet autumn.
About 8 1/4 inches of rain fell since the start of September in State College, AccuWeather meteorologist Bill Deger said Thursday. Average is about 4 2/3 inches.
The borough’s temperature over that same time frame was 3.2 degrees above average, a “pretty significant” increase that’s led to an “unseasonably warm fall,” Deger said.
“Temperature tell us whether or not the peak will come early or a little later than average, which is in mid-October. Since it’s been a little warmer than average, we can probably push that back a week or two,” Deger said. “The trees think it’s still summer, so the changing of their leaves may be delayed a week or two this year.”
Cooler temperatures signal deciduous trees to stop producing chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for photosynthesis. When chlorophyll breaks down, other leaf pigments appear.
Warm temperatures are expected to continue for the next two weeks, Deger said. The average high temperature is predicted to be in the 70s, up from the historical average of the low 60s.
Not all hope is lost if Centre County’s patchy display as of Thursday doesn’t work for you. Most counties north of Interstate 80 are approaching their best color, the DCNR said.
If yellow leaves are your aesthetic, AccuWeather long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok suggested you head south. If red is up your alley, head north.
“One thing that I have been impressed with in my nearly 40 years of gauging foliage is the resiliency of the display,” Abrams said. “Year after year, despite the conditions, there are places where the trees show good color, but perhaps not great color every year.”