Fall Foliage Emerging Rapidly in Northern New England

It’s finally happening! Beautiful fall foliage is emerging in northern New England, after a bit of a delay due to the recent heat. We knew that conditions were primed for the colors to come on, and with the slight drought and abundant sunshine, had even anticipated an early year. The lack of cool mornings, however, was the missing ingredient that held us back. Fortunately, that changed this week as three consecutive days dawned with a light frost in our northern-most regions and kickstarted the colors. Since its onset, the display has only accelerated.  I took a multi-state leaf peeping tour this past weekend, to assess the progression. Driving up to Pittsburg, NH on Friday afternoon, it might as well have been late summer still, with green dominating the landscape. I kept expecting to see a greater proportion of trees turning as I passed the mountains, but found very little color all the way to the Canadian border.  

Saturday morning, I found myself staring at the same stretch of Connecticut lakes that I gazed upon exactly three hundred and sixty four mornings before, and wondering how things could be so incredibly different. As I drove across northern New Hampshire and western Maine that day, summer-like landscape was all I found. 

On Sunday, the landscape was entirely different. The color evolved from mostly green to almost moderate in the course of twenty four hours. The most noticeable change was in the Bretton Woods/Zealand area of the White Mountains, which always turns first. We highlighted this region in last week’s foliage report, and are pleased to be able to share an updated image of that area from late this weekend.  

Back home in southern New Hampshire, I have been struck by the language used by friends and foliage observers to describe continued rapid emergence. Words like sudden, shocking, startling, unbelievable and, best yet, amazing have all found their way to my inbox over the last few days. The fears that have been underlying the tone of foliage fans over the last few weeks are quickly eroding. There will certainly be some areas where the drought, heat, and earlier stresses will compound with differences in terrain, aspect and soils to vary the timing and intensity of the leaves, but by and large, this emergence is encouraging.Even in central New England, a most surprising amount of color was visible on my route home from work today. Much of this southern color explosion occurred in lowlands and wetlands, where swamp maples have decided that their late show will be a great one. We expected that moderate drought could concentrate sugars, and that abundant sunshine had primed the leaves for such a display, but we’re pleased by current indications that the show could meet expectations, and possibly develop ahead of schedule for much of New England (outside of the far north).

It should be noted that none of these areas are yet at peak, even up north, but the rapid onset is exciting, and plenty of color now dots the landscape north of Massachusetts. Although there will be plenty to please the leaf peepers this weekend, a willingness to explore the landscape to find the best color will be of increased importance this year, as significant variations can be caused by changes in elevation, aspect and location even across small areas. That said, anyone who has been watching the weather certainly knows that there are also some reasons for concern this coming weekend and beyond. All eyes are on the tropics, as a hurricane following an unpredictable track swirls to our south. Various runs of weather models significantly shift the whole forecast, but in the uncertainty we can discern some general possible impacts of Hurricane Joaquin. First off, given that only a few areas in the far north will be at peak this weekend, it is unlikely that even a significant hit from subtropical remnants of Joaquin will strip the trees of color in large swaths of the region. Our late foliage up north may therefore turn into a surprise blessing. The warm air associated with this type of system could slow down this rapid emergence, but at this point that is overly simplistic speculation.On the flip side of the coin, if the system stays largely south or blows out to sea, we could see a reasonably dry weekend, where color continues to come on strong. This could hasten the arrival of peak color in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, the northern Green and White Mountains as well as the hills of Western Maine. With the uncertainty in the forecast, at this point, we simply don’t know. But if the weather is good, especially early in the weekend, I wouldn’t miss the chance to get out and explore in northern New England!

We offer a number of tools to help you track the turning colors:  Our Foliage Facebook PageFoliage AppRealTime Foliage MapsAlso, you can use the hashtags #NEFoliage or #Foliagereports on Twitter and Instagram. Lets hope that the most intense rain stays south, and the intensity of colors continues to come on strong. We look forward to your reports, and we’ll sort it all out next week before Columbus Day!