Colours(Canadian spelling thereof) around the Ottawa area are fantastic this year. A lot of reds and golds. Reply: I am not surprised. A decent amount of rain this summer then some warm days and cool nights early in the fall.

It's freakish. Some of the old sugar maples are vibrant though others have simply shed their dull leaves. The norway maples are still green like mid-summer. Over the last several Falls, the contrast has only increased. Human co2 is definitely having an effect.

"The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just started funding a study"

Great! What else can we waste more taxpayer money on?

"Something is clearly happening to make the colours less vivid"

Ya, nature is happening. No wait, must be mans fault because we all know how much trees hate CO2, right? I've been a native New Englander all my life. When we get alot of moisture, it seems to make the colors less vibrant and more rusty in appearance.

Also consider that in 2008, NH had it's greatest maple syrup production compared to the last 5 years. We also set record snow fall as well last December. Global warming? Not so much in NH. Atleast nothing to be alarmed about.

A thousand apologies for referencing my backyard weather report.

Colors, outside the Montreal area, in particular the Eastern Townships are simply stunning!

Many bright reds ......more than I can remember in previous years.

While I guess it's possible that the temperature difference between day and night is becoming less, I've also noticed that daytime highs are also reduced.

Lack of daytime warming also contributes to reducing the variances between the two and would therefore indicate global cooling.

I guess it depends on your agenda ...........

Faded this autumn and the previous one. Locally I blaim warmer nights.

I dont live up north to confirm that but if it is happeneing it would probaly be because winter might come in a more sudden or dramatic way instead of a gradual transfer into winter that causes those colorful leafs.Do you think my theory is plausible?

Brilliant as always here in Binghamton,NY.There has been no loss of brilliance here over the last 5,10,20 or 30 years.

This is ridiculous. In my lifetime I've seen great years here in CT and fair years. Warmer years the foliage changes a little later. That's all. Moisture seems to play a role however.
We've had plenty of cool nights and warm days this fall. Just the other day we were around 62F for a high and low 30s and frost at night. The colors look great and maybe a bit early.

Kind of funny, I was walking through my garden yesterday (taking a break from my home business), checking out my specimen Japanese maples, the plants, and the trees and I was thinking, wow, it is going to be a beautiful fall this year. We have large patches of color and the colors are pretty vibrant. I live on almost 2 acres with all old trees in a semi-rural area in the Northeast. I went on a trail ride on my horse in the woods this afternoon and the colors were just beginning but they were looking good. I didn't get the feeling that it was going to be a dud this year. I remember back a couple of years when it was pretty warm and dry (global warming) and we were in a semi-drought and for those years, the fall colors were not so good. Also because it was so dry, a lot of the leaves turned brown and fell off.

When I lived in San Diego, for those deciduous trees that were on irrigation, we had some pretty spectacular fall colors. But that was then, now it is dry and hot and perpetually brown, since they have water shortages now. I was back in San Diego a few weeks ago and visited a friend who has a large liquid amber tree, which is on a drip system. She says it turns vibrant red in the fall which it had started doing when I was there. She was proud of that tree, she was. Anyway, it seems like water/rain is a large player also in addition to global warming. Shortage of global water is going to be the next issue if not already.

Oh what a crock (yet another) from these lunatics! Better cut the CO2 and throw a wrench into the world economies (which they don't need) by taxing everthing in site so we can control the climate and prevent the pretty leaves from not changing colors! These people make me sick!

I wish there was glo-BULL warming so the leaves would not change colors! Leaves changing colors is grossly over-rated and only singifies another crappy winter is on the horizon. Any of you "pretty leaf"/cold weather loving tree huggers out there are more than welcome come and RAKE all the of "PRETTY LEAVES" that I have to trudge through yet agin. Oh, Oh, that's different, I am sorry that's right. Just like it's different when you belong to a certain political party. I know how it is! Screw the leaves. I want warmth, which is NOT HAPPENING!

DENY DENY DENY THE GLO-BULL WARMING LIE!!!!!

And here's another crock from the "Union of Concerned Scientists," with their suck-ups in the local one-sided biased media:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08276/916784-113.stm

Scorch PA? When??? When??? I miss summer the way it used to be!! When??? And as for the farce that is the Union of Concerned Scientists, they are just that. A FARCE AND FRAUD. Their president isn't even a scientist. He is a public policy lobbiest, and hack with a masters degree in political studies! Fraud. Propaganda. Fiction. Call it what you want. It's all further evidence that glo-BULL Warming is the biggest scam in the history of mankind.

Temperatures are running normal to well below normal for nearly the entire country in 2008, but unfortunately the trees read realclimate every day and believe that it is actually anomalously warm.

This causes them to behave badly.

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/YearTDeptUS.png

I don't know about changes in colors compared to years past, but I noticed that here in Fairfield County, Conn. the change of color is coming later than before. As we go into Columbuis Day weekend, most of the trees here are still green with a small amout of color. Back in late 70's, there was usually more than 50% color here by Columbus Day. Also, the time of peak leaf fall seems to be later. In the late 70's,it occurred around the 3rd week of Oct, by the 20th or 21st, with the trees 80% bare by Nov 1. In the past few years, many trees have still been nearly full of leaves on Halloween, with the trees not bare until well after Veterans Day. (Nov 11).

"The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just started funding a study into claims that the northern states fall colors are also fading away with climate change."

What is wrong with this governmant? They are really going to spend my money to see if leaves are green or not?

Since I live in the Mid South, I'll have to get back to you in 3 or 4 weeks on how our fall foliage looks this year. We're still pretty green here at the moment.

Wow!
One more thing to add to our list of things we blame on AGW.

My personal experience demonstrates with an IPCC-like high degree of certainty that climate warming over the past 25 years has resulted in an almost complete loss of fall color brilliance. I have fond memories of brilliant fall foliage in the gorges around Ithaca, NY and Cornell University in the mid 1980's. These colors have all but disappeared since 2002.

I should mention that I moved to Tampa, FL in 2002, but this has little impact on the conclusion, since Mannian teleconnections of foliage behavior in Florida imply similar changes in Ithaca, NY.

;-)

I don't think I will agree with that assessment. The traditional yellows and reds have more to do with species. Maples turn red and are more indicative of a forest that has more tolerant species.

Over the past few decades, oak has been king, and many forest landowners have managed for oak regeneration. Oak doesn't have the vibrant colors that the maples have.

Maple has been deemed a "weed" tree by the industry in the recent past and have been taken out of the forests. Reply: I assume you mean red and silver maples. The sugar maple is not a weed tree.

So, I think you have to put something in there about forest composition before you start blaming the whole thing on climate change.

For nearly 35 years we have been making the trek up to North Carolina, Asheville, Cherokee, Bear Paw, the second week of October (we live in Atlanta), just before the 'leafies' jam the highways, to get that fall 'fix' of the mountains. Naturally we have to get yet another lament from the 'scientists' of AGW that boohoohoo, we are losing the sharp fall colors. A check in the northeast shows little of no change on the colors. As usual these Hysterics have no grasp to the fact that all their postulations are made upon conjecture as to the course of natural climate variations. And the fact that even if we are losing some of the brilliant colors that is not another reason to run out and propose some addendum's to the Kyoto protocol.

From visitnc.com North Carolina Fall Color Report: Good news on the fall leaf color front - we�ve had another week of great weather and the color change in the mountains has really picked up steam. There�s still about a week or so to go before color�s peak in Ashe and Watauga counties, but some areas are near their peak in Avery County, especially around Grandfather Mountain. In Ashe and Watauga counties you can now see the mountains beginning to take on color below 4,000�. If the weather conditions hold up, we should have peak color in 7-10 days, whereas it may be near peak levels this weekend in the Grandfather area. It is supposed to be a bit rainy and cool this week (Wednesday through Saturday), but I don�t think the duration of this weather system will dampen the intensity of the fall colors, since the previous two weeks have been nearly perfect weather-wise.

Jesse Pope, chief naturalist from Grandfather Mountain writes: �We are starting to see pretty good color widespread above 5,000 feet. More and more color is showing up all the way down to 3,500�. The Heath Bald areas are in full color on the flanks of Grandfather just above the Blue Ridge Parkway, and around 4500�.

Many species are starting to show off good fall color and include: Mountain Ash (brilliant red), American Ash (burgundy and yellow), many huckleberries and other Vaccinium species (bright red to burgundy), Sugar Maples, Red Maples, Yellow Buckeye, Yellow Birch, Hop Hornbeam (yellow), Pignut Hickory (yellow/brown), Red Oak (red,yellow, and brown), Chestnut Oak (yellow/rust), hobblebush (red), and Sourwood (red), just to name a few.�

Here in Ashe and Watauga counties, the birches and maples are really beginning to show off their colors, and oaks, dogwoods, hickories and cherries are adding to that. The tulip poplars, always late with their color, are finally beginning to turn, and will eventually result in bright yellow splotches on the hillsides when they reach their peak in another week or two. Some of you may notice lots of brown leaves on the black locusts. This is due to the locust leaf miner, a native insect that defoliates these trees late each summer. The trees seem to withstand these insects without too much adverse effects.

Autumn is getting into full swing here in Scotland, personallu I havent noticed a difference in colour. I think such observations risk being incredibly subjective.

When you have a dry late summer the leaves always tend to have less color and drop quickly in the fall. Since you don't describe what is a normal fall season it is difficult to compare. But, I have seen brightly color leaves one year followed by not so bright the next year. Nothing stays exactly the same forever and changes are part of the evolution cycle.

Fantastic color in New Hampshire this year. Much more red than usual, the leaves turned early this year, which is no doubt a sign of global warming.

Fall colors in bershires and catskills are fabulous this year, All the way down to NYC great fall colors happening. Last year was also a wonderfull fall foliage display!

Here in central NY the maples are at peak with plenty of brilliant orange and reds. The mountain side along I88 is just beautiful today. Ash leaves are on the downside and the Oaks are still green and will be for a few weeks. I'd say it is just about normal but then my time frame for observation here is only 35 years.
It seems the amount of rain we get during the August and early September determines just how the colors are. Of course a heavy rain and wind storm in early October can wipe the leaves off the trees in a day.
But this is all just anecdotal observations and like the man says beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. (Especially if you can get grant money for looking at fall foliage!!!! Don’t you just love how everybody is getting on the gravy train!)
LOL Everybody please have a great weekend and enjoy the fall colors.

im from the uk and i'd say that the autumn colours do seem to be fading. the trees also don't seem to change all at once, only a few patches at a time. i've also noticed that autumn seems to be coming about a month later than it used to. by now, years ago many of the trees would have changed colour but only a few have so far this year.

I spent yesterday producing serious amounts of Co2 peddling myself from NYC to Newburgh,NY. and I only have this to say: B.......BALONEY.

Nice picture.

Nothing new here, move along

http://www.ecoenquirer.com/NASA-vegetation.htm

This autumn heat is affecting me too. 41 degrees now with snow and rain forecast all weekend.

Reply: You should take a drive down to Colorado Springs. 73 degrees now. Thunderstorms tomorrow.