It has been sunshine and warm temperatures to start the month of September, but some trees in eastern Ontario appear to be getting a jump start on fall.
Some leaves on trees across the region have begun changing colour earlier than usual. Experts say it is due to unusual weather.
“You tend to find more stressed trees that will show early autumnal and leaf senescence,” explains Sean Thomas, a professor of forestry at the University of Toronto.
Thomas says the excessive rainfall that Ontario has seen this summer is the main factor, with Ottawa experiencing its wettest summer in the last five years.
“You get muted colours in a drought year,” Thomas says. “This year we’ve had the opposite, to an extreme. So the more stressed trees tend to be trees that have their feet wet, and you’re seeing earlier leaf turn in the wet areas.”
He notes that the early changing of the leaves is not a predictor of an early end to summer, and that these conditions could lead to spectacular scenes across the region.
“We’re primed to have fantastic autumn colours, but it all depends on the specific weather patterns. What you need, at this point now, is temperatures that drop down close to freezing, but not a hard frost, combined with pretty sunny conditions.”
Fall colour-viewing in the Ottawa Valley is an attraction that draws many to the region during the first weeks of October.
At Calabogie Peaks, the fall colours chair lift is a popular way for viewers to catch the sights, and the resort is preparing for an early start to the viewing season.
“We noticed that sugar maples were turning early,” says Luke Nixon-Janssen, COO at Calabogie Peaks. “We thought to ourselves, okay, let’s anticipate this and look at our dates and choose maybe the third week of September, versus sort of last week of September (to open).”
The fall colours chair lift will open at the mountain Sept. 21, and will be open each weekend and wrap up the Thanksgiving long weekend, Oct. 12 to 14.