The White Street Farmers’ Market usually ends the last Saturday in October. This year it has been extended at least one more week because of unusually warm weather.
Many days in October were 12 to 17 degrees warmer than normal. For example, there was a high of 79 Oct. 29 compared to the average high for that day of 62°. The low was 61° compared to an average low for that date of 46°, and cool fall temperatures bring out the most brilliant fall leaf color.
Abnormally warm weather was great for the Zombie Crawl, Voices from the Silent City cemetery tours and other outdoor activities last weekend. But warm nights also mean a later fall color season than usual in the Ozarks. Some tourists who planned their vacation to coincide with the height of the fall color anticipated in the third week of October were disappointed.
No one has called the City Advertising and Promotion Committee to complain about the late fall colors, according to Executive Director Mike Maloney.
“People are very agreeable,” he said. “They understand weather is what it is. We can’t predict the weather. I’m kind of anticipating by this upcoming weekend we should probably see the peak of fall colors. That’s what I’m counting on, we’re doing photography next weekend. I’m hoping we have some brilliance in the reds and yellows.
“I think we will start to see a real turn in the overall colors of trees, particularly the oaks that haven’t turned as quickly as usual. Poplars and other trees have turned colors. Maples look really good. If you’re riding on Highway 62, the maples in front of the Best Western are really, really nice right now. Some of the other places around town look good. It depends on where you drive. I drive Highway 62 every day and I see a lot of color between here and Bentonville. Temperatures are holding, which makes for good outdoor activities.”
October is the biggest tourism month of the year for Eureka Springs, and people come not just for fall color, but the Mad Hatter Ball and to a visit a town with a tradition of great Halloweens.
Maloney thinks it is possible there will be still be good fall color when the city kicks off its Christmas shopping campaign in mid-November. “It may look more like fall than it usually does in mid-November,” he said. “It won’t hurt anything if we still have good fall coloration.”
A warm fall could even bring more visitors to town.
“If the weather looks nice, people will make the trek,” he said. “They can check on any hotel website or EurekaSprings.org to see what is available lodging wise.”
Maloney recalls colder weather in years past. For example, it snowed on Halloween one year.
There may be benefits to a warming climate for some. Patrice Gros, a no-till organic farmer who owns Foundation Farms, has been active in working to combat climate change for about 10 years. During that time, he has seen direct evidence of a changing climate.
One consequence of high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere from greenhouse gases is that warm air holds more water. Gros said he has seen much heavier rainfall in recent years.
“I’ve been here twenty-three years, so I have a pretty long, steady personal record,” Gros said. “I remember clearly from early years any rainfall event over two or three inches would be very unusual. The past five years, we have had five or six cases of rain six to ten inches.
“The second thing is temperatures. We used to have freezes regularly starting on Oct. 15. In the past five to seven years, I have no occurrence of that. Now our first frost date is between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15. That has been a huge shift.”
Gros continues to have big concerns about how climate change will impact biological diversity on the Earth with the changing climate leading to mass extinctions of species.
“I’m totally concerned about the change of habitat and how some species like polar bears are being pushed out,” he said. “But it is hard for me to very upset about the changes we have seen in Northwest Arkansas because it has served my purpose. Rain is usually good in my system. The same thing for freezes. My season is extending itself.”
Leonardo DiCaprio’s 90-minute film about climate change, Before the Flood, premiered on the National Geographic Channel Oct. 30. In a video with DiCaprio interviewing President Barack Obama, Obama expresses concern about the millions of people who live near the ocean in the U.S. who could be dislocated by rising sea levels.
Art Hopson, a University of Arkansas Fayetteville professor emeritus, said Before the Flood is the best climate-change presentation he has seen: high-quality film-making, enjoyable, and full of valuable knowledge for everybody.
“DiCaprio has travelled far and wide to make this film, interviewing scientists, world figures, and lay people, and filming in such crucial zones as the Arctic Ocean,” Hopson said. “It includes plenty of suggestions for action. Everybody who cares about Earth’s future should see it.”
Gros, a native of France, said places like Holland and France have ten times greater population density than in the U.S.
“We have enough space to accommodate climate change refugees,” Gros said. “There will be intense traumas because people will have to leave their homes behind. I don’t think the country is ready for a big shift in population. And, on the personal family level, it is an issue.”
He sees hope for combating climate change in the growing organic food and sustainability movements. More and more people are getting involved with small-scale farming.
“I’m going to seven national conferences this year, speaking to a lot of people interested in no-till organic farming, which is a great way to sequester carbon,” he said. “I see thousands of young people wanting to become small farmers. And that might have an impact. I really think small farming is a better way to go for the planet. People are very interested.”