Met Mailbag is your chance to have a Weather Plus Meteorologist answer your weather question. Each Thursday, our NBC Weather Pulse Blog will publish the answers to questions you send us. This week's question was answered by NBC Weather Plus Meteorologist Bill Karins.

Question: Does weather affect fall foliage color?
Submitted by Eileen Anders, Bath, Maine.

Answer: Thank you for the question Eileen. Even though your leaves in beautiful Maine are mostly on the ground now, many locations around the country are still showing off their vibrant colors and the weather is affecting the show.

If you want vivid colors you need to hope for sunny, cool days with no rain during the peak leaf season. This scientific term for this seasonal aging of the leaves is called SENESCENCE. Scientists have found that changing leaf colors are a stress reaction like fall’s less humid fall air and cooler temperatures.

The key to the intensity of the color is the amount of stress on each tree. This is why the unhealthy trees peak and drop their leaves before the healthy trees around them do.

The duration of the peak leaves also depends on the weather. Most of New England lost its leaves because of the strong windstorm this past weekend. Heavy rain will also cause the leaves to drop prematurely. So Eileen, next year as fall arrives, you want to hope for a dry spell with cool sunny days to get the most out of those picturesque maple trees in Maine.

Thanks for the question!

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