Stunning Fall Color Spreading Across New England

October has arrived, and ahead of us lie the two biggest weekends for leaf peeping in New England.  Visitors from all over the globe are descending upon our six states to enjoy the beautiful foliage, and thus far, the color has not disappointed.

Peak fall color was already on display this past weekend in far northern New England, including the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, the Great North Woods of New Hampshire, and the Crown of Maine.  The trees region-wide have responded to the recent stretch of cool and sunny weather by producing an abundance of bright red pigments, and the entire landscape in these regions was seemingly ablaze.  It was spectacular!

The flow of autumn color is moving quickly southward and downslope from these far northern regions, and beautiful scenes can now be found, in varying degrees, across the entirety of the Northern New England states as well as Western Massachusetts.  This color is generally arriving ahead of schedule, and the farther south you head, the greater the anomaly seems to be.

The reasons for this are many, but the biggest factor besides the cool weather may be just how dry it has been.  The brightest foliage is brought on by warm, sunny days and cool clear nights with timely rainfall.  And so far this year, the foliage is BRIGHT!  There has to be a balance between sun and rainfall though, and we seem to be at risk of tipping the scales a bit too far to the dry end.

Portland, Maine for example has had just over a half inch of rain in September, while the month averages nearly four.  We fortunately banked a surplus in August, but this dry weather could eventually act in browning some leaves, reducing the potential brightness, or causing leaves to fall quickly after reaching peak.

It’s important to note that this is not something that we’re necessarily seeing at all yet, but the concern will be first tested this weekend, as a strong cold front barrels through New England.  This system will be far from a weekend washout, but what it could bring is wind.  If the foliage is in fact too dry, leaf drop in the areas already at peak could be a problem.  We’re hopeful that they hold on!

Aside from those possible upcoming concerns, where the colors have come in right now are absolutely, unbelievably spectacular, and the options for a foliage drive this weekend are vast.

Vermont’s Green Mountains run down the entire length of the state, and most of these higher elevations will be bright with bold color.  Rural route 100 closely parallels these ridges, and visits many quaint New England villages along the way.  Color should be most consistent in the central portion of the route, with color possibly beginning to fade a bit north of Stowe.  Away from the mountains, color will be moderate.  Areas directly around Burlington, and across the state towards Woodstock are popular areas with visitors, but usually reach peak a bit after the mountains.

In New Hampshire, the delineation of foliage color was quite sharp on either side of almost every famous notch.  Crawford Notch’s variation was perhaps the most stark, with near peak foliage around Bretton Woods and Twin Mountain, while very much mixed greens on the valley floor a few miles east and several hundred feet lower.  Areas north and west of the Whites will be a bit faded this coming weekend, while the heart of the mountains comes into its prime.  Eastern and southern regions, around Conway and Sandwich, will still be early.

The Kancamagus Highway may be the most popular foliage destination in New England in early October, and the color is definitely emerging early, with near peak on the eastern portion of the route, past peak high on the pass, and great color again dropping down into Lincoln.  This next week will be the best time to visit this season.

Strong color in New Hampshire also extends down the western highlands down to Keene and down into Massachusetts to the start of the Mohawk Trail.  Heading west across Massachusetts will reveal incredibly bright color in the abundant lower wetlands, where the swamp maples continue to put on one of the best displays in years.  Color is now spreading into the rest of the landscape, and climbing into the Berkshires should reveal peak color across much the higher terrain.

Colorful foliage will be found almost everywhere in Maine this coming weekend, with colors becoming more consistent as you travel either northward and inland.  In southern zones, the color will be patchy, and mostly in the low wetlands, as the real show remains further north.  Last weekend, Baxter State Park had strong color both up high, and in the low wetlands, and the rest of the color should be filled in this weekend.  The western mountains and Crown of Maine may be a bit past peak, but the Lakes Regions all the way to the midcoast should have moderate to strong color coming in.

Acadia National Park doesn’t usually see peak occur until after mid-month, and even moving that up a week like much of the rest of the region still doesn’t get us to near peak in this forecast period.  However, the park features a great variety of landscapes and forest types, and there will be plenty of patches of color in the park.

Early foliage is still emerging across much of the rest of New England, include the Lakes Region of New Hampshire down to the Seacoast, Eastern Massachusetts, all of Rhode Island and most of Connecticut.  The majority of the canopy in these regions remain green, with punches of bright color in specific landscapes.  Their show will come later this month.

In summary, the color in Northern New England has been spectacular so far this season, and strong color is now emerging in many other places.  The potential remains for this to go down as one of the best seasons in recent memory, but there are some factors that may subdue the enthusiasm a bit, with the persistent dry weather possibly shortening the season after peak.  We’ll have a better handle of that next weekend.

While out exploring this weekend, be sure to have our foliage app handy.  This is a great resource to see recent reports from other people in the region in real time.  The app is interactive as well, allowing you to upload your own reports and pictures for others to see.

Our Foliage Facebook Site has also been busy this week, with many amazing pictures coming in, and we also have been monitoring Twitter this season, promoting the hashtag #NEFoliage for your reports.

The next two weeks are prime time for New England foliage, and with so many options for finding great color, we sure hope you enjoy your time leaf peeping! We’ll see you out there!

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