By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As the fall season rolls on, the green leaves in trees are slowly starting to turn shades of orange, red and yellow.
Missouri Department of Conservation forester Lonnie Messbarger says though with the little rain and extreme heats we saw before the fall season, the colors this year on trees may not be as impressive.
"Well on average, this time of year would be normalish peak fall color, but I think our peak is going to be a little later and it may not be as impressive because of the weather," Messbarger tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post
Messbarger says typically the best fall color in leaves comes with an ample amount of rain long before the fall comes and cool temperatures.
Messbarger says when viewing leaves you can typically find them anywhere, but says the conservation advises in Northwest Missouri the best are along the River bluffs.
"So the bluff is going to be that really tall hilly stuff and it's usually forested, because it's to steep to do anything else, so that's going to have a lot of trees on it," Messbarger says. "And then, you know between Kansas City and St. Joe a little further north of St. Joe there's a lot of Sugar Maple thrown in, which has some of the better colors.
Messbarger says when it comes to the types of trees that produce the best color, it all comes down to personal preference
"Depends on what you like, I mean, I think most people will really enjoy the colors you see in Sugar Maple in a good year," Messbarger explains.
But the sugar maples aren't all that's around this area
"And then usually the oaks are kind of not as showy and that's just normal, and then hickories can be a good yellow color, so that's a good contrast between the reds and oranges of Sugar Maples and the yellows of the Hickories," Messbarger says.