I know it looks beautiful, but those trees are turning way too early. In fact, they started turning back in July! The strange weather — 80 degree days back in March followed by frosts, long dry spells followed by torrential downpours, and hotter than normal summers in general — is no doubt taking a toll. The trees most affected are the maples, which you see turning in that photo above. Birches also seem to be particularly stressed — they started yellowing back in July, too, and have started losing their leaves already. One day last week I was outside down by the barn when a breeze came up, and the sudden rustling of falling leaves from a nearby birch had me suddenly thinking and feeling like we were in mid-autumn .. except it was 80° in mid-August.
Here's another view, taken to the right of the shot above:
You can see not only the color changes but also how thin some of the deciduous tree tops are. The small birch at the very bottom of the photo has already lost all of its leaves.
This next view is looking down to the horse sheds:
We've seen this happening everywhere we've been in northern New Hampshire and Vermont — not sure how widespread it is elsewhere. It's just a few species so far, which is fortunate. The one tree we have that is clearly thriving is the big oak next to the front yard; not surprising, I suppose, since oaks are one of the trees that are expected to "move" north as the climate warms.
When I say "hotter than normal summers," there is real data behind that. Every week the local paper publishes a weather summary for Lancaster, including previous year temperatures for that same week and the 30-year average. The monthly average maximum temperature for July 2012 was 81.3°, while the 30-year average for July is 78.8°. (July 2011 was 81.5°.)
It's too soon to know what this will mean for the "real" autumn colors still to come. This early taste of fall is … tasting rather strange.
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The latest Shelter Challenge started Monday, July 9 and ends at midnight on September 16. Grand prize in this round is $5,000, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.
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