Weather expert believes mild weather will continue in Aylesbury Vale this week

As we go further into Autumn, we notice the increasingly vibrant colours developing in the trees and woodlands of the Aylesbury Vale. Aside from the visually stunning spectacle, the process of leaf maturation and shedding is very important for the local ecosystem. It is also very significant for the

rail industry, where leaf falls and damp conditions can cause reduced friction to the train wheel. This can cause thousands of delays nationally each season.

Autumn 2021 was rather mild, and this had an impact on the changing colours. The onset of leaf maturity across the Aylesbury Vale was behind where it normally would be, and around this time last year trees had about 8-10% more leaves on the trees than normal. The milder than average temperatures combined with the lack of big storms meant that even when they did turn the leaves remained on trees for longer.

This Autumn, some trees turned colour much earlier than normal due to the extreme heat in the summer and lack of rain leading to trees getting drought stressed. However, since then temperatures have been around or above average and there has been no big storms so far.

Yet, it has been breezy with the odd cold night like last Monday into Tuesday morning when temperatures in the Aylesbury Vale region fell to around and just below 0C.

This has meant that leaf fall rates are now where you would expect.

Looking ahead to next week temperatures look set to remain mild. It will continue to be unsettled with blustery showers or longer spells of rain at times next week.