The 21st Show

‘Weather Realness’ podcast on autumn leaves

Produced by the Weather Realness team
 
while clouds cover most (but not all) of the sky, the sun shines on parts of a gently sloping hillside covered with trees whose leaves are red, orange, yellow and green

Clouds sit over fall foliage in Clarksville, N.H., on Oct. 9, 2025. Holly Ramer/AP

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Today we’re talking about the weather, with a pair of conversations from “Weather Realness,” a sister podcast produced by Illinois Public Media.

Trees across Illinois are turning yellow, orange, red, and other vibrant colors. We’ll talk about why that happens, what can affect fall foliage, and hear about the coming fall frost.

Guests

Christy Rollinson
Senior Scientist of Forest Ecology, Morton Arboretum

Trent Ford
Illinois State Climatologist, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Co-host, Weather Realness

Maddie Stover
Doctoral student, Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Co-host, Weather Realness

A version of this conversation was published as a Weather Realness podcast episode on Oct. 10, 2025.