Drought Might Dim Vermont Fall Foliage A Little

The August drought  followed by recent rains have caused
 this oddity at a St. Albans, Vermont dog park.
This small tree thinks it's May with new spring growth. 

Now that it's September and the kiddos are back act school, we're really thinking autumn in Vermont. 

You know, apples, and (ugh) pumpkin spice and fall foliage. Which begs the questions: Will the drought blunt our famous fall colors somewhat this year?  

The answer is: Probably. 

Before you spiral into depression over the prospect, it'll still be pretty this fall. Gorgeous like it always is. But, as if is often the case, there will be flaws in the orange, gold and yellow tapestry of our landscape. 

In a few spots, the color is already lost.

Especially on exposed south facing hillsides with thin, rocky soil, the flash drought that developed in August has already wilted leaves or turned them brown or yellow and those leaves are falling off quickly. Luckily, that's not the majority of trees in Vermont, but there's definitely parts of some hillsides that are already brown. Or at least a dull orange or yellow because of the dry weather. 

Many other trees, while still green have lost some leaves. They'll do that to conserve water during droughts. Also, I've seen leaf scorch. That's caused by the drought, too, along with the extreme heat of mid-August that left the edges of leaves on some trees brown, while the center of the leaves are still green. 

Climate change messes up our foliage season. The flash drought that developed over the past month is a classic example.  That climate change also has alter the autumn schedule. 

Peak fall colors arrive a little later in the season than they used to decades ago. It's possible - but not definite - that this year's drought could actually reverse that later trend and make the peak colors a little earlier than they've been in recent years. That'll be especially true if we have a very cool September. We'll see!

OTHER FOLIAGE PROBLEMS

Springtime and the very start of summer was quite wet, and that encouraged some blights to develop on a few trees. The blight causes leaves on some maples and other plants turn brown or black and fall off now. 

The blight has really affected lilac bushes. You see many of them - including one in front of my house -  have brown leaves that have largely already fallen from the bushes. 

Lilacs aren't known for their colorful fall foliage, so this blight won't affect the autumn scenery much.  But those lilacs are looking pretty uncharacteristically ugly right now.  You'll want to rake up and discard the fallen lilac leaves. And if you get a nice day this winter go in and thin your lilac bushes to improve air circulation.

The good news is that next spring the lilacs should all still leaf out and bloom beautifully like they always do.

The drought might mess with our Vermont autumn
colors a little, but didn't cause this problem. The 
emerald ash borers killed these trees near 
Swanton, Vermont. 

Another odd thing I've seen here in northwestern Vermont over the past couple of days is new spring leaves on some bushes.  The drought made leaves drop from some bushes and trees. We've had some welcome rains recently, and now new leaves are appearing, as it it's May, not September. 

Though this isn't great for the trees and bushes, because it's making them use more reserves, most should survive and leaf out again next spring 

However, one very sad, permanent loss to our fall colors is the ongoing demise of our ash trees.  Ash trees have tended to add some beautiful golds and purples to the autumn color palette, which really have helped to make Vermont's foliage season that much more spectacular.

The emerald ash borer has killed or is killing most of the ash trees in large swaths of the state. In parts of the Champlain Valley, stands of ash trees now look like they do in mid-winter. They're completely dead.

The ash borer hasn't affected all of Vermont yet, so our ash trees in many locations will continue to make their contributions to our lucrative foliage season. But, I'm afraid ash trees will soon go the way of the stately elms we had in the mid-20th century and the huge chestnut trees we had around and before 1900. The end of our valuable ash trees is a terrible loss.

All the rest of our forests are getting ready to go dormant for the season, so renewed rains probably won't help much. That's especially true in southeast Vermont, which largely missed out on beneficial rains this past Friday and Saturday. The dry week we're having ahead of those rains is probably worsening the drought conditions in southern parts of the state. 

It's also beginning to look like a series of weather fronts due Thursday night through Saturday might focus the rain once again in the northwestern half of the state. But since that event is a few days away, that scenario could change. 

Despite the fact it's already September, the weather over the next few weeks might renew some of autumn's brilliance. I've heard quite a few observers note if we have a lot of chilly nights and bright sunny days (with adequate rainfall mixed in) during September, leaves will tend to be brighter and more colorful at the end of the month and in October. 

Fall foliage in Vermont is different every year because the weather is different every year. The best places also change every year. A hillside that was amazing last October might look "meh" this year. Or, a vista that was just OK last year will blow your socks off this foliage season. 

But some things never change. Vermont's forest will put on a big show, it'll look fantastic.  We'll be overrun by tourists. Social media influencers will run amok in and near tourist towns. We'll all get to shuffle through drifts of fallen leaves in crisp autumn air. 

As those beautiful leaves swirl in the chilly autumn winds, us Vermonters will glance up at stunning hillsides in our brave little state, and then turn back to the task of buttoning down everything for another long winter.