Florida Trees Turn Brown In Wake Of Hurricanes

Hurricane Milton caused countless trees in western 
Florida to turn brown. Arborists say most of these
trees will recover. Photo from WBBH

 Throughout America, leaves and turning color and falling as we progress through autumn.

This includes much of Florida, including the western part of the state. 

But that shouldn't happen, right? Florida is not known for its fall foliage displays. And it's not even cold down there yet, at least by the standards we northerners have. 

Leaves, though have turned brown on many trees, and they're falling in Florida. What's going on?

Blame Hurricane Milton. 

The force of so much wind for so many hours has put many trees in stress mode. Even though it was raining through much of the event, the wind pulled moisture from the leaves, turning them brown. 

So, on top of everything else they're dealing with, Floridians in the hurricane zone are dealing with trees that look dead or half dead. Most of the brown leaves are on the south and southwest sides of the trees which makes sense. 

"Basically, out;s the wind whipped the leaves around and sucked all the moisture out before the leaves could rejuvenate themselves," arborist Chris Corner told television station WBBH NBC2

 Most of the strong winds in Hurricane Milton across western Florida was from that direction. The southwest sides of the trees took the brunt of the storm. 

It didn't help that the strong hurricane winds pulled sea salt well inland, which plastered trees as well.

The good news is the vast majority of those trees will survive and make a nice recovery. The dead leaves will all fall away, and the trees will sprout fresh new leaves.  Arborists are advising homeowners to leave their trees alone and they should recover without help. 

However, those same arborists are telling homeowners to keep an eye on those trees, because in a few cases, there could be some hidden damage that won't allow some to recover.