(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A weekend tweet about fall colors in the Chicago area got plenty of people talking, and now a local expert is weighing in.
The tweet, which earned hundreds of retweets and over three thousand likes, featured four photos of local trees bursting with red color, and declared this “the prettiest fall in Chicago history.”
Dr. Christy Rollinson, a Forest Ecologist at the Morton Arboretum, agrees.
“Yes, it has been absolutely incredible,” she said. “We don’t have any hard data that says the leaves are brighter this year than past years. But anecdotally, from what I’ve seen, this is kind of a crazy beautiful year for fall color at the arboretum and in the region.”
She said a summer free of extreme heat and fewer reports of tree disease deserve the bulk of the credit.
“That all goes into that story … a good year for growth, means that it’s going to be a good year for fall colors, in general,” Rollinson said.
Rollinson added that it’s been an especially good year for red hues in the trees.
“A lot of times, the maples around here, they’ll be, kind of, a bit more yellow or orangey, but because we had some really bright days, until recently, that really helps promote that red color … in those leaves,” she said.
Although temperatures are starting to drop, Rollinson said those bright colors should stick around for a while.
“As long as it doesn’t get down into the mid-20s, it’ll be okay,” Rollinson said.
Related
Related
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!