Colder air on the way
The beautiful fall colors are shown along Chalk Hill Ohiopyle Road on Kentuck Knob. (Photo by Jack Hughes)
Jack Hughes
The first week of October saw temperatures in the low 90s across our region and most of the month was sunny with plenty of pleasant afternoons just like we had this past week when Indian summer paid a visit.
The wind and rains that did visit knocked a lot of the leaves to the ground and, overall, Mother Nature did not disappoint; however, the annual fall spectacular was a bit on the dull side. A drive on the back roads of Southwestern Pennsylvania will still produce some pockets of color, but the big show is over for this year. Most people would agree that the color show is much later than in past years. The warmer temperatures cause some of the leaves to fall early and others to just go brown. It appears that we are about two or three weeks behind the long-term average of mid October for the mountains and the third and fourth week for the lower elevations. Not certain, but climate change is probably the reason as the warmer temperatures allow the growing season to continue longer.
After cleaning up several billion acorns and hickory seed pods this week, it got me thinking about what a seed must go through to become a tree and allow our species to enjoy their beauty as we take our fall drives and hikes. That seed must compete with millions of others to gain a foothold and begin its journey of life.
To be successful is must have a bit of luck in where it falls. Will it be able to get the right amount of light to start producing sugar so that it can send some energy down to start a root and some energy up to start a leaf? Sugar is vital to all of life, including ours; and all the sugar you have ever eaten got its start in a leaf. The plant鈥檚 sugar is used for growth of leaves and roots and for long term storage for future needs. It must have a constant supply of light for this process. The sugar allows the plant to grow its roots and additional leaves to bring in more water to continue the process. For humans, we too must rely on a constant supply of glucose to our brains, otherwise we would die.
As the trees grow and survive, they must also face the constant battle of surviving the winter. As Mother Nature shuts down the factory for the winter, the leaves color and fall off. In order to prepare for the long winter journey, trees undergo a process known as 鈥渉ardening.鈥� Since every cell in a tree is composed of water it must find a way for these cells not to freeze in spite of many days below freezing and some below zero. The cell produces its own anti-freeze and this allows the tree to stand naked outside for months and come out of it healthy in the spring. Trees have being doing this for hundreds of millions of years and have gotten good at it. The vast majority of northern trees prepare well for winter and death due to cold is rare. Hardening works because the tree can trust the sun to tell it when winter is coming by shortening the amount of light the tree receives in the fall.
Just as nature readies for winter, we too must begin to make plans for the coming colder days. This weekend should bring an end to the spell of Indian summer we had this past week as daytime temperatures should only reach into the 40s and 50s and morning lows will probably drop to freezing or lower. Longer-term, the next two weeks should see temperatures below normal and rainfall also below normal. Average temperatures for the first week of November are highs in the mid-50s and lows in the upper 30s. Now is the time to start preparing for the coming colder days.