New England

Early November Foliage is Brightest in Coastal New England

By Jim Salge|Oct 27 2016|

Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine

Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan

A large flock of geese caught my ear earlier this week, flying south in perfect formation against a slate gray sky. Just north, the clouds were producing some early snowflakes, and the wind that pushed them south brought a bitter bite. In northern New England, it isn’t uncommon to see hints of the long season ahead, but this was a brutal reminder. But still, November foliage is hanging in with bright colors across coastal New England. This weekend’s storm definitely changed the course of our November foliage across much of New England. Wind and rain lashed the trees, and by the end, many of the maples in northern New England stood like skeletons welcoming Halloween. Southern New England was already on tap for a double peak this year, and more color will soon fill in what the storm dropped. In northern New England though, the big show is over.

In the mountains of New Hampshire and hills of Vermont, the parting gift was particularly sweet this year. Dense, locally heavy snow covered late leaves in the higher terrain, yielding picturesque scenes seen only seen a couple times a decade. The local media dubbed it ‘snowliage,’ and our social media feeds were filled layers of foliage with snowcapped peaks and people skiing over recently fallen foliage.

November Foliage in Northern New England — “Snowliage” made for beautiful scenes in northern New England this past week!
*Photo Credit : Chris Whiton*

With more snow in the forecast, and little color remaining, all attention for the remaining November foliage turns southward and towards the shorelines. Coastal Maine, New Hampshire and the North Shore of Massachusetts should all see the oaks peaking this week, along with some late maples in town centers and cemeteries. Oaks tend not to develop the brightness of color that maples do, with rusty red, orange and brown tones more the norm, but a forest of oak trees backlit by the sun on a crisp autumn day is still a beautiful sight!

November Foliage on the Coastlines from Massachusetts to Maine — Coastlines from Massachusetts to Maine should see oaks peaking during the next week or so!
*Photo Credit : Jim Salge*

One of the best places to see these late oak trees this weekend will be Salem, Massachusetts, home of the famous witch trials. Halloween is their biggest weekend of the year. The historical trails around Boston proper also hold a lot of late color and make a worthwhile pairing for leaf peeping. Around the rest of Massachusetts, oaks and late maples will still hold color, but overall have moved past peak. Past peak doesn’t mean no color, and in fact, some of the oaks are still green. But the storm stripped a lot of the early color, and the color to come will be more muted and sporadic. For the best color, try large river valleys.

November Foliage in Southern New England — River valleys in Southern New England hold on to color later than the rest of the surrounding region.
*Photo Credit : John Burk*

Further south, Rhode Island and southern Connecticut are typically seeing peak colors in the lead up to Halloween, but this year, there is a bit more of a patchwork that a full display, thanks to storm-stripped trees, damage from caterpillars and the effects of the drought. A good portion of the southern coast of New England is still showing a considerable bit of green, and we could therefore still see more color come in over the next week! As the season winds down, New Englanders divide their time between cleaning up and prepping for winter and enjoying the remaining warm days of this beautiful season. We hope that you take full advantage of both and appreciate the beauty of late autumn as we now move into November. We hope that you continue to tag your images with #NEFoliage and #MyNewEnglandFall, and reference our foliage app for the best remaining color! Not much longer now … enjoy it while you can!

Jim Salge

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