How Summer Weather Shifted Colors: The trees’ characteristic autumn hues—red, orange, and yellow—might have appeared earlier this year, if not at all.
Scientists claim that the vibrant autumn hues throughout Canada are a reflection of the extreme summer weather that caused wildfires and heavy rainfall in various regions.
When summer began in Nova Scotia with forest fires and concluded with stretches of cloudy, stormy days, the vivid colors that are typical during this season in the majority of the province have been replaced with a dull brown.
Mason MacDonald, an assistant professor of environmental sciences and agriculture at Dalhousie University, remarked that the vibrant reds and oranges that Nova Scotians are accustomed to are in stark contrast to the colors he has observed thus far this autumn.
“This year, you’re probably noticing a multitude of colors that appear extremely dull.” Even the reds are likely a more subdued, dark crimson or rust hue, according to a recent interview with MacDonald.
“I’ve heard it from a lot of people this year, especially people from the southern parts of Nova Scotia,” according to him.
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With the elongation of autumn nights, trees are exposed to reduced amounts of direct sunlight. Consequently, the chlorophyll, an essential pigment utilized by trees in photosynthesis, undergoes a degradation process, leading to the exposure of the leaf pigments.
The production of anthocyanins, which impart a red hue to leaves, is contingent upon uninterrupted sunlight from late summer onwards. MacDonald stated that a decrease in anthocyanins does not pose a threat to trees, adding that if the weather becomes more sunny the following summer, the vibrant reds will likely return in force.
“This year we received an abnormal amount of precipitation, and in addition, there were a multitude of these cloudy, dark, grey days.” Exactly that transpired. The sun did not shine as brightly as it normally does. “Consequently, those hues are unattainable,” MacDonald explained.
In Ontario, however, the manifestation of the inherent pigments has commenced earlier than customary.
According to Sean Thomas, a forest ecology professor at the University of Toronto, anecdotal evidence suggests that ash from wildfires in northern Ontario this summer may have prematurely caused trees to change color.
Thomas stated, “Wildfire smoke is a sort of chemical cocktail.”
According to him, this mixture of carbon dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter “contains minute amounts of chemicals that exert a hormonal effect on plants,” causing premature leaf loss.
“In our case, we got those acute smoke effects earlier in the summer, but it still may be partly what’s accounting for the earlier fall colouration,” according to Thomas.
He stated that much of Ontario is adorned with vibrant autumn hues at the moment, but added that there is reason to believe that the persistent effects of climate change will cause autumn colors to fade in the years to come.
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“There is good reason to think that climate change will disrupt that normal leaf colouration that we see,” Thomas asserted.
He stated that the combination of increased temperatures and postponed first frosts could result in fall colors that are less vibrant. He added that this effect will likely be most pronounced in major cities, where the urban heat island effect causes structures like roadways and buildings to absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat, resulting in higher temperatures than in rural regions.
Thomas stated that if climate change causes the extension of colder nights and extended nights in cities such as Toronto, “that is a recipe for significantly less autumn coloration in the city itself, and climate change will exacerbate that.”
A spokesperson for the Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton stated in an interview on Thursday that trees throughout the region are beginning to change color. Dave Mahalik stated, “I’ve heard that some regions of Nova Scotia are experiencing less vibrant colors this year, which made me a little concerned about our current situation and how we might fare.”
“But I’m in Sydney and there’s trees here that are starting to pop, and they’re looking like they usually do,” he added.
According to reports from Mahalik’s colleagues, colors are appearing vibrant in other parts of the island, which augur well for the festival, which is taking place in approximately fifty communities throughout Cape Breton.
