By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

The rain the area has received over the spring and summer, paired with mild temperatures, creates good conditions for fall colors, say two foresters from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

“Because we’ve had such a great year, we would expect it to be fantastic,” said Gary Smith, district forester in the department’s Neosho office. “Normally, I would expect it to be spectacular. Having said that, I’ve been fooled before.”

Jon Skinner, urban forester with the department’s Joplin office, said the weather has helped maintain the health of trees and leaves into the fall season. He said what is required now for the brilliant fall colors is relatively warm, sunny days and cool nights. He said that would trigger the chemical reaction that shuts down photosynthesis in the leaves.

“It still comes down to the chemical processes that are yet to occur,” Skinner said.

He said the changes may be evident within a few weeks.

“Early to mid-October is usually our peak of fall colors on average,” he said.

Skinner said sassafras, flowering dogwood, smooth sumac and poison ivy have started to change. Other tree varieties, including Bradford pear and silver maple, are showing signs of spotty coloring.

“The dogwoods are staring to get orange and reddish,” Smith said. “The sassafras is starting to change. Those both can be pretty brilliant.”

Smith said that because the conditions are good, he is hopeful that the season will be good.

“We’ve had just about as good a year as you’re going to have: plenty of moisture and no extreme temperatures,” Smith said

The Missouri Department of Conservation posts weekly fall color updates on its Web site: www.mdc.mo.gov.

Smith said that when the leaves change, some good locations for viewing them include Roaring River State Park at Cassville and Big Sugar Creek State Park at Pineville. He said Noel and Purcell also are good locations for viewing fall colors.

Tim Smith, park naturalist at the Ozark Chinquapin Nature Center at Roaring River State Park, said he is predicting that fall colors will peak around Oct. 18-25. He said he doesn’t have a crystal ball, but he would expect that because of the moisture and mild temperatures, the colors could be vivid this year.