By Art Smith, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The leaves of thousands of trees have spent the summer shading our streets and parks, our backyard cookouts and our school playgrounds.
Soon most of them will change color and fall to the ground, marking the end of the summer growing season.
Summer officially ends today when the length of darkness becomes more than the length of daylight each day. We will continue to see less daylight than darkness every day until the end of fall in late December.
The shorter days and cooler nights are the two main reasons the leaves change color and eventually fall to the ground.
When viewed from nearby hills, the neighborhoods of Marietta and Parkersburg are covered by thousands of trees holding millions of leaves.
Read more: https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/community-news/2025/09/free-fall-first-day-of-autumn-is-today/
