Before the Fall

摘要

The timing of vermont's leaf-viewing season depends on a specific temperature pattern: cold nights followed by warm days. Chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green color, breaks down during nighttime chills and allows underlying yellows, oranges, and reds to show through. But there are signs that the season, typically the last week of September and the first few weeks of October, is starting later each year because of warmer-than-average temperatures. What's worse, since the hues of the state's maples are dependent on early cold snaps, the colors themselves are at risk of being dulled. The same dynamic may be behind a recent decrease in the trees' sugar content: bad news for the state's syrup industry.