ORLANDO, Fla. – Fall officially arrives Sunday, Sept. 22!
Although it may not mean much immediately weather-wise in Florida, there will be some changes.
Daylight Saving Time officially ends November 3, meaning we “fall back,” bringing an earlier end to daylight with the sun setting before 6 p.m.
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FALL FOLIAGE IN FLORIDA?
Florida doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of the list when people consider destination getaways to see vibrant fall colors in the trees. Yes, the palm trees are still green but, believe it or not, fall foliage can be seen in the Sunshine State.
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Many associate the changing colors during fall with cooler weather. Turns out, it’s the light — or lack thereof.
The running joke is that fall arrives everywhere but Florida because, let’s face it, the heat doesn’t disappear for very long here.
What does disappear, though, is the amount of daylight. The days get shorter, cold front or no cold front.
Chlorophyll is responsible for giving foliage its green color. As days get shorter, changes start taking place in deciduous plants and trees. Less light means less nutrients for the plant. Trees react to this change by breaking down chlorophyll, reducing the amount of green, thereby exposing the yellows, oranges and vibrant reds associated with the fall season.
Once winter arrives, most of the leaves are brown as a result of all the nutrients in the leaves being reabsorbed by the tree.
Weather does make or break the amount of vivid color seen during fall. The more rain that falls during summer, combined with the slightly cooler and drier days of fall, results in the brightest colors.
If a drought is present, trees will drop leaves to prep for the winter shutdown before the full color is reached in the leaf. Freezing or frost conditions during the longer nights can also cause this process to be stopped, leading to less color and a lot more brown.
While the northern states are known for peak foliage during fall, there are places in Florida where the red maples live up to their name.
From late October through mid-November, the more north you go, the more fall colors you get.
Sure, it happens later in the season after other states have passed peak foliage, but it’s worth the wait.
The Florida Panhandle is the best place to start. About an hour west of Tallahassee and north of Bristol sits Torreya State Park, where the stunning colors of fall can be seen on the southernmost section of the Appalachian mountain range.
Gainesville is also a great spot to see the bright colors of the Florida maple, sweetgum, persimmon and sugarberry trees.
Stunning fall foliage even happens right here in Central Florida. Just head to Wekiwa State Park in Apopka to see the yellows and oranges among the cypress and maple trees that grow between the popular palms we all know and love.
TIME CHANGE
Remember several years ago when then-Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 1013 into law, an effort to keep Daylight Saving Time in place permanently for all Florida residents?
The legislation will only take effect, however, if the U.S. Congress amends the law to observe Daylight Saving Time year-round. Soon after the bill was signed, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, introduced the “Sunshine Protection Act,” which seeks to bring the change to the federal level, but it has been in legislative limbo in the years since then.
So, for now, Florida has to deal with changing clocks twice per year.
DST was established to provide more daylight for the evening in the warmer months.
If we kept Daylight Saving Time year-round, the sunrises and sunsets in the summer would go unchanged from what we are used to. Currently, with Daylight Saving Time, Central Florida’s latest sunset in the summer is just before 8:30 p.m.
The issue, however, would occur in the morning. If we didn’t fall back in early November, the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8 a.m. during the middle of winter. We would have a little more daylight in the evening if we kept DST for the entire year.
On the flip side, if we observed standard time all year, a lot of your summer evening activities would fall in darkness. The sun would come up much earlier, though, with the earliest sunrise being 5:27 a.m. in the middle of summer. The latest sunset would only be 7:27 p.m.
The time change, while inconvenient, allows us to save the daylight in the summer months and prevent an extremely late sunrise in the middle of winter.
Here’s to a great fall. Enjoy!
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