Fall colors are worth the wait

October 20, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The sparkling water on Lake Glacier ripples as Maureen Collins points out the beauty before her.

It’s a crisp October morning in Youngstown, and Collins, a proud Youngstown resident, is on her daily walk through what she calls the most luscious part of the park.

She walks with stick in hand. A gentle, cool breeze pushes her along.

Collins embraces the beauty now, but she’s ready for more.

The colors of the leaves in Mill Creek MetroParks show subtle changes. Some are burnt orange. Some have yellowed. Some are already brown. Some remain vibrant green.

But Collins wants the reds.

She knows she must wait. Beautiful things take time, she’s reminded by her sister and walking buddy, Kathy O’Neil of Youngstown.

“I have been watching this,” Collins said of the leaves. “It is going to come.”

Though the colors started to change at the end of September, this weekend is supposed to be the peak weekend for all of the leaves to show off their colorful brilliance.

“I encourage everyone to get out over the weekend to see the most trees with leaves on them,” said Casey Burdick, ODNR fall-color forester.

Eric Wilhelm, chief meteorologist for 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, said this week will be mild with temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s through Thursday. On Friday, temperatures will cool down to the mid-50s, but they’ll go back up Saturday and Sunday. Some rain is expected late Wednesday into early Thursday and late Saturday.

“The hard freeze and frost we had [Monday] morning – we are done with that for awhile now,” Wilhelm said.

The color of the leaves on the maple, oak, hickory and other trees is triggered to change when the days shorten and they begin to prepare themselves for winter.

“For the perfect scenario, we want really nice sunny days and really cool but not freezing nights,” Burdick said.

Here’s how the colors come out: Each tree has sugar that starts to break down, making its sap thicken. The sap clogs at the end of the tree’s stem. The leaves’ being cut off from the sap causes a chemical reaction.

As a result, color spices up the blue skies.

“All trees are capable of turning yellow,” Burdick said. “Some trees can turn really brilliant red.”

Burdick says this year is expected to be exceptional.

“We are seeing some nice colors,” she said.

Five-year-old Lily Phillips of Youngstown is also a fan of the red-colored leaves. Lily was on a morning stroll at Fellows Riverside Gardens with her parents, Ruth and Matthew, and baby brother, Magnar, on Monday morning.

“We hope [the colors] stick around for as long possible,” Ruth said.

“They are beautiful,” Lily added.

The peak colors from the golden sycamore and hickory trees to the radiating red maple and red oak trees can last up two weeks.

“I think this year the maples are outdoing themselves,” Burdick said. “They are really putting on an awesome show.”

For fall events and a fall colors map go to: fallcolor.ohiodnr.gov.