Why Autumn Colors Are So Late

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Shirleypal
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Why Autumn Colors Are So Late

Post by Shirleypal » 11-17-2007 10:24 AM

Why Autumn Colors Are So Late
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer

posted: 16 November 2007 02:46 pm ET

A gray, grim landscape used to greet residents of the Northeastern United States each November, but autumn's riot of red, orange and yellow came late this year. Delayed fall foliage also occurred in Chicago and parts of Europe.
Some say droughts and a warm summer played a role, while others wonder more broadly about global warming. In fact, it's rising levels of carbon dioxide, not the warmer temperatures fueled by the greenhouse gas, that have been delaying the transformation of green leaves, at least in Europe for a few decades, a new study suggests.
In the past 30 years, leaf color change across Europe has gradually occurred later and later, with a delay of about 1.3 to 1.8 days per decade. Like the early onset of spring blooms, this phenomenon has been explained as a result of Earth's rising temperatures

http://www.livescience.com/environment/ ... delay.html

We have a delay in color here also this year....there are still leaves on the trees and color still beautiful.

OMG
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Post by OMG » 11-17-2007 11:42 PM

Yup it's taking longer for it to change here too. What I really noticed most is that the birds were all confused when to go south.

Shirleypal
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Post by Shirleypal » 11-17-2007 11:56 PM

OMG wrote: Yup it's taking longer for it to change here too. What I really noticed most is that the birds were all confused when to go south.


Know what you mean.....I pass a little river everyday on my way to work and the Canadian Geese are still there, saw them today.

Lakesider
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Post by Lakesider » 11-18-2007 04:17 AM

It was a weird year here. Spring was really late coupled with way too much rain. The greenery did incredibly well during the summer but crops/gardens did poorly. Fall was late and it appears winter will be as well. It's like our seasons were bumped back 45 days. Migrating birds are still kicking around which is strange for them... they're usually long gone by now.

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Live365
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Post by Live365 » 11-18-2007 09:10 AM

Here in the prairie, we've already broken three records for warmth in November, and are set to break another one tomorrow. Our experience has been similiar to what Lakesider describes: it's not as though we didn't get all four seasons this year, it's just that we got them upside down and backwards. Everything came about two months later than than "usual". Though I don't know what's "usual" anymore. Anyone my age or older that hasn't noticed how much the weather has changed in just our lifetimes hasn't been paying attention.

The leaves finally changed here too, and yes, it's very beautiful. But that's not the extraordinary part. The extraordinary part, is that the leaves are still on the trees.......
Did you ever stop to think, and then forget to start again?

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IvyQ
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Post by IvyQ » 11-18-2007 06:47 PM

i have 2 brilliantly red leafed oaks in my front yard right now.... i never remembered them to be so red this time of year....

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