Changing leaves, cooling weather and the start of the holiday season means one thing: We're officially in the throes of fall.
Here's some recent fall news you can use:
When it comes to falling leaves this year, what's the best practice? To rake or not to rake? Put that tool away, because for overall yard health and the planet, some experts recommend to skip it and leave them on the ground.
In most cases, keeping leaves on the ground is not an issue, and in landscapes around trees, shrubs and on top of mulch, leaves are how trees naturally recycle nutrients to plants that can be used again.
Each Thursday, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources provides a weekly update of fall color around the state, with conditions ranging from mostly green, or no real fall color seen, to fading, or leaves fading from peak conditions and falling.
The rainy and windy weather around Ohio over the past week may have lessened the fall color, but there are still pockets of color to enjoy this season, David Parrott, a fall color forester, said on the department's update.
Daylight saving time is almost here. Beginning at 2 a.m. Nov. 7, you'll need to set your clocks back one hour, meaning you'll gain an extra hour of sleep.
In March, we "sprang forward," but lost an hour of sleep as clocks moved forward one hour from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
More:Daylight saving time is 'not helpful' and has 'no upsides,' experts say. Here's why.
In Ohio, this year brings slightly above-average production of acorns from white oaks. In some places, it's a mast year for acorns, meaning oak trees are overproducing nuts. These mast years can be random, happening as often as once every year or two, depending on the severity of the previous winter.
If you've noticed an uptick in activity this fall from insects of a stinging variety – mainly yellow jackets, bald-faced hornets and paper wasps – you're not alone. Earlier in the fall and at this point in the season, those insects have completed development, and colonies are at their maximum size, leading to increased activity in and outside their homes.
Soon, queens and drones from the hives will fly off and mate, and the queen will go to find a protective location to survive the winter. After the queen leaves and the weather turns colder, eventually every insect left in the hive will freeze to death.
Spotted lanternflies are native to Asia, but first appeared in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in 2014, likely brought over by imported woody plants, wood products and other goods.
The invasive species first made landfall in Eastern Ohio in 2020 in Mingo Junction. No egg masses were found, meaning they were not established. Since then, they've been found in a few other places around the state.
Even though we're still in fall, winter is on its way. Federal forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center are anticipating wetter-than-average conditions for the Ohio Valley according to the 2021 Winter Outlook, which extends from December 2021 through February 2022.
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