Things you love about autumn?

[Soft*Silver]

I have gigantic pumpkins in my pumpkin patch!

[kittygrrl]

[Reach *BANNED*]

The patchwork of color on the rolling hills of where I live. The smell of wood burning. Burying Myself further under the covers of My bed.

[Orema]

I love the cooler evenings when I can wear my favorite mint-colored pajamas.

I love going on my deck with a cup of decaf and just looking at the huge oak tree that’s slowly changing this year.

Most of all I like turning on the heated mattress pad a few minutes before bed. Then it’s nice and warm when I get in it. And it’s nice and warm on the other side of the bed when I turn over in the middle of the night.

[Orema]

How to Time Your Leaf-Peeping Trip This Fall

By Debra Kamin
Oct. 4, 2022

From New England to California, and points in between, the symphony of colors that accompanies the arrival of a snap in the air is playing out differently in 2022.


AccuWeather predicts that peak colors in places like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York will come late this year, in mid- to late October. Above, fall in Grafton Notch State Park, Maine. Credit...Stacey Cramp for The New York Times

Planning a pilgrimage to enjoy the brilliant fall leaves will be trickier this year.

Months of record-breaking drought in the Northeast have deprived trees of water, and in the West, nearly 100 large fires have swept a path of destruction across seven states.

From California to Oklahoma to Maine, the symphony of colors that accompanies the arrival of a snap in the air is playing out differently in 2022. But leaf-peepers need not despair. Those looking to feast their eyes on the vibrant foliage of fall will have plenty to savor this year, as long as they plan it right.



The effects of climate change

“It’s no question that climate change is impacting leaf-peeping season,” said Dr. Gordon Ober, a professor of environmental science at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass.

The impact, Dr. Ober said, can be seen in a few ways: The height of leaf-peeping season is arriving later and sticking around for a shorter period of time.

“Due to warmer weather, the growing season of broadleaf trees in the Northeast and out West is being extended,” he said. “Peak leaf-peeping a few decades ago would happen earlier in the fall, and now it typically happens later on.”

According to Dr. Ober, warm temperatures are keeping some trees green later into the season, staving off the glorious crimson and gold colors that leaf-peepers love. In other regions, a lack of rain is turning others prematurely brown.

This year is shaping up to be the fifth-warmest year in recorded history. The summer of 2022 brought record-breaking heat across the globe. As the mercury rose, water levels dipped dangerously — by August, severe to extreme drought affected more than a quarter of the contiguous United States, and as of late September, a quarter of the Northeast continues to experience abnormally low rainfall.

Dr. Nicole Davi, who leads the environmental science department at William Paterson University, studies trees and the effects that events like extreme weather have on them. She is currently conducting field work in New York’s Catskill Mountains, and said that in many places, this year’s viewing season felt over before it even began.

“We’ve had a pretty serious drought this season, and that can mute colors. What I see in the lower Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey is they’ve kind of skipped the foliage altogether,” she said. “You see how stressed trees have become, and when they’re stressed, you’re not going to see the same brilliance in color.”


New Hampshire is among the states where fall foliage is expected to peak later than usual this year. Credit...Greta Rybus for The New York Times

When and where to find colors

The good news is that travelers looking for the best colors can lean on hindsight as a guide.

“This season is expected to largely mirror the 2021 season,” said Alan Reppert, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

AccuWeather predicts that peak colors in places like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York will come late this year, in mid- to late October, rather than their usual appearance in late September and the first week of October. This was last year’s trend, as well.

In Michigan and northern Minnesota, leaves will likely drop earlier than usual, thanks to cold fronts, and AccuWeather also predicts that in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest, which is popular for its colorful leaves, foliage has already peaked.

Leaf peepers in the Northeast who may have been hoping that the late summer rains in that region would salvage their season will be disappointed, Mr. Reppert said, because it came too late to undo the damage of a dry midsummer.

“Trees start to prepare for the fall leaf change around the Fourth of July, and rainfall and drought conditions from this point onward really determine the outlook for fall,” he said.

From Boston to New York City, AccuWeather predicts that fall foliage will underperform, and leaves will drop off trees early in the season. Colors are likely to be muted across the Northeast and the Appalachian Mountains, including eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and southeastern New York.

And in parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, some leaves are already turning brown.

In other parts of the country, however, the outlook — and the colors — will be brighter.

Beginning in early October, western Oregon and Washington State are predicted to put on a vibrant display, thanks to a snowy winter and plenty of rain in the spring and early summer. They should reach their peak just before the end of the month.

“Olympic National Park in Washington is one of the places along the West Coast where foliage is expected to be on full display this year,” Mr. Reppert said.

Plenty of rain across the Upper Midwest, the Great Lakes and the Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi valleys also point to a strong showing for fall colors, and a viewing season that takes off in mid-October and lasts through early November.

Meanwhile, leaf peepers in California, Nevada and western New Mexico, where moderate to extreme drought has persisted for the past two years, can expect a shorter season that doesn’t peak until the end of October, is marked by duller colors and dies out by early November.

Northern California’s trees will offer more brilliance. But wildfire risk in the area means that those traveling to see the leaves should monitor weather conditions and exercise caution.

And from Missouri to Illinois to eastern Kentucky, the bright colors will actually linger longer than usual, with peak colors holding past the first week of November.

In these areas, “in late July and early August, there were 1-in-1,000-year floods that occurred within six days of each other,” Mr. Reppert said. “That increased moisture level will mean states in this region will have longer leaf-peeping periods than in years past.”

And in the eastern Rocky Mountains, a summer of monsoon rains is expected to give way to colors that are particularly vibrant.


Fall foliage near Grant, Colo.Credit...Benjamin Rasmussen for The New York Times

Other resources

There are multiple online resources to help leaf-peepers plan the timing and location of their visits.

A fall foliage prediction map produced by Smoky Mountains National Park lets users check color projections on a weekly basis between Sept. 5 and Nov. 21, across the entire country.

Travelers in New England can consult the New England Fall Foliage 2022 Forecast, produced by New England Today, and travelers with smartphones can download the Gaia GPS app, created by Outside Online, to check live satellite images of foliage and time their visits accordingly.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/t...tes-timing.htm

[kittygrrl]

autumn leaves in the dark the moon rise..i could love forever

[kittygrrl]

[Orema]

The first frost. It occurs when the tempertures drop low enough to produce frost on veggies and fruit. It happens in October in my neck of the woods.

It’s a key date for farmers and planters and it’s the date my mama would pull the last of her greens from her vegetable garden. First-frost greens are the sweetest of all the greens picked that year. So good.



I have a neighbor (another cat lover) up the road who has promised me a picking of collards from her garden. Lucky me.

[kittygrrl]

it's that time........

"me: I'm really going to eat healthier starting now ..

Universe:
Release the Reeses Peanut butter pumpkins"

[Soft*Silver]

My summer garden is almost done. I still have tomatoes on the vines. I had so much I couldn’t give away any more! Lol I’ve turned my chickens loose in my garden. Hopefully they’ll eat what is leftover. What they don’t eat, the wildlife this winter will. I’m slowly putting away my garden chairs and barbecue grill and Bird baths.

It’s time for me to start my fall garden. I’ve already planted lettuce and beets. Radishes too. My fall bulbs arrived today so hopefully next weekend I’ll be able to plant them. (Recovering from RSV this weekend) So many tulips and daffodils! I kind of went crazy!

It’s also apple picking time. Though my mobility is still somewhat limited, I am able to get up on a ladder and pick. I have so many recipes. I want to try recipes that I found on TikTok! (My Garden and chickens are on TikTok) I have two little granddaughters, who love to help me, bake and sample the goodies!

It’s also transition time clothing wise. I bought some new fall clothes that I am just dying to wear! Loose long blue Jean skirts w plaid flannel tops. Plaid wool long skirts with solid corduroy jackets. I love love, love, fall clothing! I even found fall-colored sweatpants!

I kept several of my pumpkins out of my garden, so that my granddaughters and I could carve. I bought special stencils that look just like cookie cutters! You arrange the ones you want for eyes and nose and mouth, and then pound them into the shell. The seeds are all going to the chickens or the garden!

Can I mention fall, scented candles? Oh, my God! I have them in my house and at my job. I love the fall scents!

One of my favorite smells is campfire. My husband built a small fire pit in the backyard. Next year it’s going to become a water garden so this fall is the last fall that we can enjoy it at that location. (I had gravel laid out behind my shed, against my woodland area, where the new fire pit is going to be built.) I’m so excited to start having fall fires this year with our family and friends.

And I love the leaves turning colors! Each year I take my granddaughters to our local national park and teach them about the trees. I now that they’re a little older I can teach them more than the difference between deciduous and evergreen, lol. I have all kinds of crafts to do with them With leaves! And people nearby, now save all their bag leaves for me! They even deliver them to my house. I keep them for a year or two in my back area. And then I fill my garden beds with them. Those people always come by in the summer and pick from my garden whatever they want. It’s a win-win situation for all of us!

I have to ready up my garage to be a winter home for feral cats. My city where I live is lower income. Many people don’t have the money to help animals, so I’ve been working with our local humane agent and our city’s police department on abandoned and abused in the collected animals. I want to set up my garage in the winter time for the feral cats to come in. We can trap them, neuter or spay them, and after they spend some time in recovery in my basement, that I will set up as a pet hospital recovery room, they could be released back into my garage. We don’t keep our cars in the garage. I had all my garden stuff stored in my garage, but since I bought my garden shed, the garage is just gonna sit there empty. So fall time is when I start creating my feral cat community!

[Stone-Butch]

As I sit at my computer leaving messages I see 7 trees in my direct line of vision.
I can see at least 5 different kinds of trees out my two windows and autumn is the time for them to fall but the beauty of those trees all turning different colors at different times is awe inspiring. Day to day and week to week I can see them change with the seasons and as they turn or fall the two huge evergreens stand their ground and give shelter to our many birds passing in the fall going south for the winter or squirrels when they venture out for food and need a quiet place to eat. Nature has so much beauty if we but pause and admire her gifts. ty Mother Earth for but one of your special gifts. I don't have to go to the park on cold blowy days I can just turn my head and admire the snow, the stillness, the bluejay and cardinal looking for the feeders that keep them going through storms along with the squirrels who must share now.

[kittygrrl]

[kittygrrl]

[kittygrrl]

[Bèsame*]

I'm loving fall fruits. I came home with some beautiful apples and these grapes... oh my delicious goodness! (Moon drops)

[Kätzchen]

Oh, we love NFL and watching the MLB playoffs.

And of course, my sweetie’s birthday in October.

And our anniversary.

And, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the season finale of Christmas and NYE.

[kittygrrl]

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Originally Posted by Bèsame*

I'm loving fall fruits. I came home with some beautiful apples and these grapes... oh my delicious goodness! (Moon drops)

All varieties of grapes have been exceptionally large, juicy and delicious this year. I have been enjoying them a lot.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

My favorite thing about fall is the color of the light in the evenings, soft and gray. Lights shine bright yellow from inside houses, making them warm and welcoming. There's a cool nip in the air foretelling the winter to come, and I always wish to step into the glowing homes, to take off my coat and sit on the couches to drink hot tea and visit with friends.

[kittygrrl]