It’s time for this week’s One Tank Trip!
This week, Meteorologist Tanner Beam talks about the Fall Foliage, one of the great things about Fall in West Virginia!
Here is the video. The script is below…
Chlorophyll. It is the most common pigment in a leaf. It absorbs the sunlight and turns it into energy. It’s also what makes plants green.
As the days start getting shorter, the leaves stop producing chlorophyll, and the green starts to fade, leaving the other enzymes visible.
Weather conditions can affect the colors in a major way.
Jay Polk, the Chief Meteorologist at WOAY, said, “Well, because we’ve been in drought, actually, the trees are somewhat stressed and so they’re not necessarily doing as much photosynthesis as they typically would. And so, the leaves are going to change a little bit earlier. We’ve noticed that if you’re going out and about, we’ve seen some of these changes a bit earlier than they normally would. Now, of course, with the rain that we’re seeing this week and the rain we’re expecting to see, leaves could actually drop off the trees now because they’re weakened a bit because they’ve been stressed because of the drought.”
According to Lauren Bodnar, Director of Relations for the West Virginia State Department of Tourism, the dry end to the summer isn’t stopping the colors from being as beautiful as ever.
“(I) do know that things are kind of tracking a little ahead of what we anticipated in the fall prediction map that we put out in August. So yeah, it’s been a little bit of a different type of fall than we’ve had before, it’s still just as beautiful. Higher elevations of the state are already starting to show signs of color, and we expect them to reach peak likely early October. So next week, we will see fall color all the way through, you know, November, early November, even.
Leaves change in higher elevations first because of the shorter days and cooler temperatures arrive there earlier than they do in the valleys below.
One of the best places you see the colors in those higher elevations is the Highland Scenic Highway, located in the Monongahela National Forest.
Closer to home, the Greenbrier River Trail is a great option as well.
“It has some amazing fall color. And whether you are into biking or you like to just go for a beautiful walk, it’s a great place to go. And anywhere really in the Lewisburg area, it definitely gives you that fun…feeling there”, said Bodnar.
There are other things to take advantage of in the state while you’re enjoying the colors.
Bodnar said, “The Pumpkin Festival takes place out in the Teays Valley area. There’s also the pumpkin house towards the end of October. That’s kind of more of a Halloween activity. We also have the West Virginia paranormal trail, so we just relaunched that a couple of weeks ago.”
While you’re out enjoying everything in Fall, West Virginia has to offer, do your best to help keep our state ‘Almost Heaven’ for everyone.
Bodnar said, “leaving a trail or, you know, wherever you might be out in West Virginia, just as you found it. So not really disrupting the nature and the environment that you’re in because we want West Virginia to always be almost heaven.”
You might be surprised by how much you can see of the state in a short period of time.
“It only takes one tank of gas to get through the state. So, you can really see and do a lot of things while you’re here with that, whether that be just a long weekend or even like a one-night stay. So that’s something that I feel like takes folks by surprise. You know, even though we have those scenic, winding roads, it doesn’t take much time to get through the state and to really check a lot of things off their fall bucket lists,” said Bodnar.
