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Why are trees still green in late October?

It's almost November, but many parts of Ottawa are looking decidedly summery. While there are splashes of fall colours here and there, and some trees have started to shed their foliage, plenty of others remain green.

Many parts of the city looking more summery than fall-like as warm weather 'tricks' trees

Ian Black · CBC News ·
Trees line Strathcona Park in Ottawa's Sandy Hill neighbourhood. (Ian Black/CBC)

It's almost November, but many parts of Ottawa are looking decidedly summery.

While there are splashes of fall colour here and there, and some trees have started to shed their foliage, plenty of others remain green.

Why, you ask?

The days are surely getting shorter, which is normally a signal for trees to shut down for the winter and drop their leaves.

But it's been a very warm fall. The average daily high temperature so far this October is 18.9 C — well above the normal of  only 12.7 C. Basically, some trees have been "tricked" into staying green far past their normal time.

Let's hope we don't get an early snowstorm, because the result of heavy snow on leaf-laden branches would be devastating.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ian Black

Ian Black is the only weather forecaster in Ottawa endorsed by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. (In fact, he was the first broadcaster ever endorsed.) He's a hockey dad, and before he became Ottawa's go-to guy for accurate forecasts, he was a substitute teacher in just about every high school in town. A self-described weather geek, he is particularly excited about how technology has caught up to the way he had envisioned weather forecasting 20 years ago.

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