September 11, 2004

The remnants of Hurricane Frances barreled through the region last week bringing soaking rains and strong to severe storms. While there was sporadic damage to trees, last week's weather should not have a significant effect on this year's foliage season. A majority of the leaves remained on the trees which is indeed great news. Next week, we will watch to see what Hurrican Ivan has in store for the region.

In portions of the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, low color (11% - 30%) has been reported. In the coming week, I expect many more areas will begin to move into the low color range with higher elevations getting close to the higher end of that range (11% - 30% change). Leaf drop is very low at this time.

This information provided by Marek D. Rzonca, The Foliage Network.