At the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival this year, festival committee President Ron Ebert heard the jokes — and made some himself: “Didn’t you paint the leaves?” people asked. “Ran out of paint. We’ll try to do better next year,” he’d reply. The festival took place on the first two weekends of October. We’re well past midway in the month, approaching Halloween, and it still looks like summer in most places. The warm, wet weather that has prevailed in recent times is responsible, according to Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and physiology at Penn State ...