WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Fall foliage hit by storm

We went down into the Stowe area today, and while the leaves are off some of the trees in the higher elevations, there is still quite a bit of color to be found, especially a little lower closer to town. USDA Forest Service foliage expert Paul Schaberg, tells us he thinks the falls colors are for the most part, very good this year.

"In general if you go especially in the mountains recently and increasingly in the valleys, there are many, many places that are gorgeous in color. The usual mosaic of green, yellow and red. There are a few places, maybe where sensitive tree species are located that are a little bit different with a patch of trees losing their leaves a little early...maybe the leaves have blown off, or washed off in the heavy rains or winds. But that's an unusual thing. Most looks really great.

"There are some spots though, where the foliage is either dull, or twiggy, he says there are a couple of possible reasons for it.

"Well there's two things. One is for some trees if they were in shallow kind of soils that can dry out easily, we had a dry spell in the mid and end of summer. They don't want to have leaves up there that aren't productive. And if it's dry and those leaves are shut down basically, they'll shed them. So that's one thing. "

And the heavy rain and the wind last week also took down some leaves. As leaves change color, their attachment to the branch of the tree naturally gets weaker. All leaves must come down at some time. And if the attachment to the leaf is already weak, a storm can take them down a little early.

Interestingly, different colored leaves have stronger or weaker attachments. Yellow leaves are the weakest, and green leaves hold on the tightest.

"Red leaves are less weak, we've actually studied this oddly enough, and green leaves have a bit of an abscission layer, but they are held on pretty strongly. Anyway, because of the abscission layer, if you have heavy rain, or big winds, again usually in a localized area. Those leaves especially the yellow ones, are prone to come off. But usually, especially the green leaves and red leaves, they're held on more tightly and they'll go through their natural progression. The green leaves could turn yellow or red, you know adding to that color over time so it's not like a done deal."