Fall colors

Each year many people look forward to the changing of colors in the fall and the beautiful colors you can see all around you. The months of September October and the beginning of November are sometimes the more colorful months of the year you can take scenic drives through the canyons of the rocky mountains and see the patches of aspens that are turning and the grass starting to turn colors.

The changing of colors in the trees is a beautiful thing but did you know that the colors that make up the leaves in the fall are always there. The reason that you see them in the fall is that the temperatures and the amount of daylight on the leaves make them turn off their food-creating cycle take out the chlorophyll that gives the leaves their green color and allow the oranges yellows and browns to show through. While this is happening other chemical changes may happen and that is how you get your reds and purplish colors.

This is a picture of a few aspens that are changing colors to yellow in the fall (Daniel Jacobsen 9/5/24)

This is a picture of a few small aspen mixed in with a small pile of dead branches and the aspen are starting to change colors to yellow (9/5/24 Daniel Jacobsen)

This is a picture of some aspen that are changing and creating almost an arch. (Daniel Jacobsen 9/5/24)

As you can see in the above images even though it is still early September the leaves are already starting to change and they are only going to change more as the month goes on until they all fall off and the snow starts coming. Then the greens will start to come back in the spring.

Work Cited

Palm, Carl E. “Environmental Information Series Why Leaves Change Color.” SUNY ESF, https://www.esf.edu/eis/eis-leaves-color-change.php. Accessed 9 September 2024.