All you need to know about the province's changing fall colours

This is the time of year that the verdant hills of New Brunswick undergo a dramatic change.

Some years they're covered with vibrant reds, yellows and oranges. Other years, a muddy mix of browns seem to cover the landscape.

And the science behind these changes is fascinating.

Chris Wong, a professor in the forestry department at the University of New Brunswick, says trees of variousspecies, and even within species, respond differently to their environment.

"Some trees might be better adapted to the climate and trying to push themselves to stay active longer to take up more carbon and photosynthesize."

Low and slow

A significant aspect of colour change is the shorter days,so barring some cataclysmic realignment of the earth and sun, the leaves will always change colour.

But there are a lot of variables that can impact exactly when thathappensand how colourful they likely are to be.

WATCH | Here's why leaves change colour in the fall:

What causes falls brightest oranges and reddest reds?

1 day ago

Duration 1:31

Chris Wong, a professor in the forestry faculty at the University of New Brunswick, explains how changing temperatures affect fall foliage

Wong said temperature and precipitation havea major impact on the change. It turns out what's good for maple syrup is also good for leaf peepers:warmer days and cooler nights.

"Once we get this kind of nice range of temperatures during the course of the day and night, that can help produce a lot of those different colours and allow those colours to really stand out," he said.

Beware the frost

But there's one thing that's apt to kill any chance of a vibrant falland that's frost.

While cool evenings are key, they can't be too coldor the leaves will turn an unspectacular shade of brown.

"Frost basically means the trees are gonna drop the leaves," said Wong.

"The leaves just kind of die and then wait for the wind to blow them off the trees."

Keep aware

So when is the best time to head out tosee the leaves? That's a difficult question.

Wong said he's unaware of any specific New Brunswick leaf forecast.

But he warns that no model is entirely accurate anyway, and the best thing to do may be to rely on reports of what the leaves look like, instead of predictions.

"There's a lot of citizen science projects going on, where people can go to parks and they can actually upload and update what they're seeing," said Wong.

"In terms of prediction we can do our best to get it to like a week or two, but no model's ever perfect."