Foliage Report | Spectacular Autumn Colors Widespread Now In New England
The autumn colors that arrived in advance of the big Columbus Day weekend across northern New England were widespread, vivid and bright.
By Jim Salge|Oct 13 2016|
The intensity of the red colors this year has been stronger than recent years!
Credit: Jim Salge
Credit: Jim Salge The colors were so bright that they even showed up on satellite images from space. The orange and red tones clearly highlight the areas that have already reached peak, strong autumn colors intermixed across the rest of the region. The evidence of this amazing weekend was all over social media. Images of pumpkin patches, fairs, festivals, hikes, cider donuts and all sorts of other leaf-peeping adventures filled our feeds with autumn colors and reminded us why so many join us from all over the world to take in the show!
Tourists from all over the world seen from above hairpin turn on the Kancamagus highway.
Credit: Chris TurnerCredit: Chris Turner We saw peak color across fields in Vermont, on mountains in New Hampshire, and over lakes in Maine. It was the sort of weekend that has you wishing that you could be everywhere at once. And really, it’s only just begun. We will see peak color fanning out across the rest of New England over the coming weeks, as the North Country slowly fades.
The intensity of the red colors this year has been stronger than recent years!
Credit: Jim SalgeCredit: Jim Salge It’s generally stated that the foliage starts in the northern mountains, and sweeps southward, downslope, and towards the coast over the course of the month. Even in Northern New England, however, there are so many local effects that must be taken into account. Elevation, aspect, soil type, forest type, and proximity to water all have an impact on the timing of the foliage, and offer keys of where to find pockets of persistent peak color. A closer examination of the satellite image shows many of these nuances. One can clearly see the large river valleys and lake shores are largely still green. They will be turning soon. Areas like the shorelines surrounding Lakes Champlain and Winnipesaukee, and the Connecticut, Saco and Kennebec River Valleys always turn a bit later because of the heat they store and the overnight fog that they generate. North Conway, NH, with it’s relatively low elevation in a river valley, is a perfect example of this effect, and should peak this coming week.
Areas of late turning foliage are mixed among the areas of Peak. The North Conway Area of New Hampshire will peak this week.
Credit: Kevin Talbot
I’m coming from California to visit the New England area from 10/26-10/31. Will any areas still have fall colors at that time? Thanks for your help!
There will certainly be foliage still, but plan to stick to Southern New England and the Coast. Mystic, Cape Cod, Newport, Boston proper, Portsmouth, Cape Ann all come to mind! Good luck!
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the great foliage report and for the tips on cities to check out. Excited to see some fall colors this week and appreciate your help!
Hi Jennifer, your best bets for so late in the season would be coastal CT. The CT River Valley area (Old Saybrook up to Essex/Deep River/Chester) is a fantastic area with a lot to do. I have a couple of blog posts about it:
https://janesnewengland.wordpress.com/category/connecticut/
Feel free to be in touch if you have any specific questions about things to do: janehealey444 at gmail.com
Hi Jane,
Thanks so much for replying to my post! I really appreciate the info and will check out your blog on coastal CT. I’ll be in touch if I have any questions!
Which of the these places will be a good one to visit this Saturday (10/15/2016): White mountains or Berkshires?
I am considering coming in from Tennessee but the only timing option I have is at my Timeshare in Dennis Port, MA October 29-31… I was considering flying into Providence in hopes that there would still be color… What do you think? Or would it be advisable to plan a trip next year so as not to miss?
We definitely expect color to remain in the oaks along the coast pretty late this year considering how they are turning!
Hi Jim. Thanks for these photos that perfectly summarised our travels in New England (26 September – 14 October 2016). It was an amazing experienced, with Vermont’s Route 100 and New Hampshire’s White Mountains the absolute standouts. i love your aerial photo of the Kanc. in peak colour. We had 4 gloriously fine days in the area and I posted this artcle and your photos to Facebook to show our friends why they should travel New England in autumn.
So glad you had a great experience touring our region! It so rarely disappoints!
Hi, I’m travelling in October this years, 2 weeks, so which weeks do you recommend me (specially thinking about fall foliage) the first two weeks? or the second and the third?