Fall Colors Have Arrived In Southwest Florida

Autumn is here and leaves are changing as winter approaches, except that - we don't usually get fall colors in Southwest Florida. The last really hard frost that I can remember was nearly 20 years ago. It's always summer here, so why does Southwest Florida look like we're getting - fall? It must have been the hurricane.

I'm not expert in this, but if you look around, you'll notice leaves are turning brown and falling off of every tree, bush, and shrub. Even on trees that rarely change colors down here, like pine and palmetto. It's something we're really not used to, even more unusual is that it's happening mostly on the southern or western facing parts of the trees.

My first lesson in wind scorch came from an outdoor party at the newly founded Ave Maria, Florida back around 2006. There was a lot of food set out at this outdoor gathering in what became a pretty windy evening. Within a couple of hours, the fruit trays became dried fruit trays. The wind scorch pulled all the moisture out of the fruit and turned them into, basically, dehydrated snacks. I think that's what happening to our trees.

The fall colors we're experiencing come from more than one factor. All that rain we got before the hurricane comes into play, too. FHS states "When the wind blows, the rapid air movement causes moisture to be lost from foliage and from the soil." Yeah, that's what happened during Milton. Then the next part. "Likewise, plants are also unable to extract moisture from frozen or waterlogged soils. The leaves soon become desiccated and scorched. " So the heavy rains pre-Milton, followed by the winds, and there you have it. Fall colors in Southwest Florida.

If you're not from Southwest Florida, feel free to laugh at this next part. Cool weather is coming. An overnight low of near 60 degrees and tomorrow's high is only 80 degrees. But as sure as the leaves on your trees will grow back, the temperature will warm up again. And before you know it, our lush green landscape will return.