WAYLAND, Mich. — While it may feel like fall today, don’t break out your pumpkin spice lattes or cardigans just yet. Some areas may notice tree's leaves turning earlier than usual for this time of year, but experts say despite what you may be seeing we still have some time before summer comes to an end.
Michigan State University Professor Bert Craig says, "What you're probably seeing is actually some of the remnants of the early drought we had this summer".
May was the 2nd driest month for May on record in the Grand Rapids area, with not even an inch of rain falling when averages should be closer to 4 inches.
“So that kind of set the stage and put the trees under some stress,” said Craig.
The rain didn’t start to pick up until mid-July, causing most of the state to be under drought conditions.
“You know, where are we to get back into a drought period? Yeah, you could add some earlier color and maybe some early leaf drop," said Craig. "But as far as I know, there's no real reason to expect that this year".
Craig said in some trees early changing color may even be normal. But we shouldn’t be worried about our fall season coming too soon.
“But it doesn't mean you know, we're going to have bad fall color season or anything like that, because a lot goes into and a lot of the timing is kind of pre-programmed into the trees, genetics," said Craig. “Most years it's a pretty good show and the timing may vary a little bit but you know, we'll have full color we'll have good fall color we always do”.
You can always stay up to date with weather patterns, state records, and more here.
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