When will fall colors peak in Chicago this year? Expert weighs in

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween decorations are becoming available, and temperatures are almost starting to drop, but one fall hallmark is still on its way.

Chicagoans might have already noticed some tinges of color on the trees around their block. Christy Rollinson, a forest ecologist at the Morton Arboretum, said that's pretty normal for September.

“What we're starting to see right now is maybe a little bit more color than normal,” she told WBBM. “We're seeing a couple other trees that kind of struggled over the summer that are starting to look kind of brown, and then we are seeing some leaf drop from some other species.”

Peak fall colors in Chicago normally don’t arrive until at least the middle of October. The recent weather, though, could mean those colors arrive sooner than usual this year.

“In a year with ample rain for this region, we typically see that a warmer fall means slightly later fall color,” she said. “However, if we continue to have warm temperatures but not enough precipitation to keep trees growing nice and healthy, they're likely to change color a little earlier than normal.”

A tree’s immediate environment can also impact when its colors turn.

“Trees that are exposed to a lot of sunlight and [are] kind of out by their own will start to change color a little earlier than trees that are perhaps in the forest,” she said. “Trees that are in generally stressed conditions — so, they don't have access to a lot of water — tend to change color earlier.”

She said a tree’s change in color is a result of a loss in nutrients as the weather gets colder.

“So the changing of the colors is not as much something that is new colors being created,” Rollinson said. “A lot of those colors, particularly the yellows, are colors that are already there, but they're just revealed as trees remove the green from their leaves.”

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