ORLANDO, Florida. – Fall officially begins on Sunday, September 22nd!

While this may not mean much weather-wise in Florida, there will be some changes.

Daylight saving time officially ends on November 3. This means we will go back in time and daylight will end earlier as the sun sets before 6 p.m.

FALL LEAVES IN FLORIDA?

Florida isn’t high on the list of destinations where people want to see the brilliant fall colors of the trees. Yes, the palm trees are still green, but believe it or not, you can see fall foliage in the Sunshine State.

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Many people associate the changing colors in autumn with cooler weather. But it turns out that it’s all about the light – or lack thereof.

There’s a running joke that says that fall is coming everywhere except Florida. Because let’s be honest, the heat doesn’t stay here for long.

What does disappear, however, is the amount of daylight. The days become shorter, regardless of whether there is a cold front or not.

Chlorophyll gives foliage its green color. As the days get shorter, deciduous plants and trees begin to change. Less light means fewer nutrients for the plant. Trees respond to this change by breaking down chlorophyll, decreasing the amount of green and exposing the yellows, oranges and bright reds that are typical of fall.

When winter comes, most of the leaves are brown because the tree reabsorbs all the nutrients from the leaves.

The weather is crucial for the brilliant colors in autumn. The more rain there is in summer, the more vibrant the colors are, and the cooler and drier the autumn days are, the more vibrant they are.

When drought occurs, trees shed their leaves to prepare for winter dormancy before the leaves have reached their full color. Frost or freezing during the longer nights can also stop this process, resulting in less color and much more brown.

While the northern states are known for their autumn foliage, there are places in Florida where the red maples live up to their name.

From late October to mid-November, the further north you go, the more fall colors you will see.

Sure, it happens later in the season when other states have peaked in foliage color, but it’s worth the wait.

The best place to start is the Florida Panhandle. About an hour west of Tallahassee and north of Bristol is Torreya State Park, where you can admire the stunning colors of autumn in the southernmost part of the Appalachian Mountains.

Gainesville is also a great place to admire the vibrant colors of the Florida maple, sweet gum, persimmon and sugarberry trees.

Stunning fall colors can be found here in Central Florida too. Just head to Wekiwa State Park in Apopka and admire the yellow and orange colors of the cypress and maple trees growing among the popular palm trees we all know and love.

TIME CHANGE

Remember when then-Governor Rick Scott signed HB 1013 into law a few years ago, permanently maintaining daylight saving time for all Florida residents?

The law will only go into effect if the U.S. Congress amends the law to allow daylight saving time to apply year-round. Shortly after the bill was signed, Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida introduced the Sunshine Protection Act to bring the change to the federal level, but the law has been in legislative limbo ever since.

Florida therefore currently has to deal with the time change twice a year.

Daylight saving time was introduced to provide more daylight in the evenings during the warmer months.

If we kept daylight saving time year-round, summer sunrises and sunsets would remain the same. Currently, with daylight saving time, the latest sunset in Central Florida in the summer is just before 8:30 p.m.

The problem would come in the morning, though. If we didn’t set the clocks back in early November, the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8 a.m. in the middle of winter. We’d have a little more daylight in the evenings if we kept daylight saving time all year round.

On the other hand, if we observed standard time year-round, many of our activities would fall into darkness on summer evenings. However, the sun would rise much earlier, with the earliest sunrise in the middle of summer being 5:27 a.m. The latest sunset would not be until 7:27 p.m.

Although the time change is inconvenient, it allows us to save daylight during the summer months and prevent an extremely late sunrise in the middle of winter.

Here’s to a great autumn. Have fun!