Though the landfall of the storm’s center circulation was in Southern New Jersey, the effects of this monster cyclone were felt many hundreds of miles from eye wall. Shorelines from Connecticut to Maine saw storm surge, powerful swells and flooding, while the interior was buffeted by winds that likely exceeded hurricane force in every New England state. 

Images of lovely leaves suddenly seem of little importance when compared to the unfathomable images we are seeing of our neighbors now, and with that perspective, we can reflect upon the privilege we have to spend good times, carefree times enjoying our beautiful landscape. 

And yet, leaves and foliage write an important footnote in the story of this storm. 

Foliage this year came early, and more importantly to this story, fell early across most of New England. Many more trees than usual were bare at the time of Sandy’s arrival, and this likely limited the damage when her gales came through. The tree canopy generally fared well with the storm, but with the exception of a few isolated locations, the foliage season came to an end with the storm’s exit.

Leaves Are Down Early, and The Woods Are Bare in Most New England Areas

Looking back, this foliage season was otherwise generally pleasant, and the colors, for the most part, appealing. The best foliage was found up in the far north, as early and mid-September featured perfect weather for the production of red pigments in these areas. By the end of September, the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, the Northern White Mountains and Northern Maine were simply glowing, and locals were calling it the best foliage season in years. I tended to agree!

Unfortunately, a prolonged period of gray weather in late September and into October reduced the bold colors in many other areas of the region, but it was pretty none the less. The foliage season on was also a bit compressed this year, with leaves not lasting on the tree for long after peak. Though many initially grumbled at the short season, as we mentioned earlier, this ultimately turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Early Color Was Very Strong in Far Northern Zones This Year

With the leaves gone, New England is now complete with its’ pre-winter look. Soon the snow will fall, and we can look forward to skiing and snowshoeing and ice-fishing, and all the activities that a long cold winter affords. Winter brings its own kaleidoscope of colors to the region, from decorative lights on houses to alpenglow on ridges. As a special treat this winter, the solar maximum increases our odds of seeing the Aurora Borealis light up our long nights.  There’s plenty to look forward to in all seasons in New England!

As a last piece of book-keeping, the YankeeFoliage.com photo contest will continue accepting entries through November 15^th, and please continue to share your images and stories of autumn on our Facebook page.

I want to thank everyone for following along as we shared the story of New England’s fall season, and I hope you found this blog both enjoyable and informative.

We’ll see you next year!

The post Superstorm Sandy Brings Foliage Season to Dramatic End appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

I took advantage of the weather by hiking up Mount Major, one of my favorite autumn vistas in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Oaks and beeches, in their rusts and golds, made up the majority of the foliage colors, and the entire region was quite colorful, though definitely not peak given this season’s strange foliage gap. In fact, a good portion of the showy early maple leaves had already fallen, leaving the forests bright despite the ever lowering sun angle.

Mount Major Offers a Great View For Only A Modest Effort

Hiking through the woods in the dark this time of year is hardly a quiet experience, with the recently shed leaves crunching underfoot. Combine the sound with the sights and smells of the autumn woods, and you have an opportunity to completely overload your senses, especially at the moment when you step on to the ledge you’ve been striving for.

Strongest Color Was Found Across CT Last Weekend, and Will Be This Weekend's Best Bet

Intensely colorful scenes like this are not long for life now anywhere in New England, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t color to be found. The term ‘Past Peak’ does not at all mean ‘No Color,’ and travelers to the region can expect to find a wide range of tones and conditions this coming weekend.

The best chance for finding bright foliage now is mainly in the far southern and eastern reaches of New England. Coastal Massachusetts, as well as portions of Rhode Island and Connecticut have the best chances to see remaining bold colors this weekend, as fewer of their maples have yet shed their leaves.

Peak color has reached all the way down to the southern shores and onto Long Island Sound, and is just about there as well in the city of Boston. These areas all represent the last areas to turn in a typical year, and some color will likely hang on here for a few more weeks.

Boston, Traditionally One Of The Last Areas To See Color, Is Nearing Peak

Further inland, and farther north, color lingers as oaks and beeches are holding strongly to their leaves, but the brightest colors and most maples have now left. In an arc stretching from Central Massachusetts, up the Connecticut River Valley, across Southern New Hampshire and into Southern Maine, the whole forest is awash in dark rusty tones, with the hints of gold speckled in. New Hampshire’s Great Bay, and the coastal towns of Portsmouth, Kittery and York would be well worth a visit this weekend especially now that their quieter season has arrived. Salem, Massachusetts is also in this ‘rust belt’, and they have many festivities lined up for the Halloween weekend.

Past Peak Color, Like In This Vermont Scene, Can Be Beautiful!

Further north and west into the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, color of any kind becomes tougher to find. The leaves of young beech trees will hold strong for some time now, often overwintering, but patches of color on the hillsides are becoming smaller and more spotty by the day. One way to still see color in these areas is to head for bogs and other acidic wetlands, where tamaracks dominate. This unique tree is our only deciduous conifer, whose needles turn a gorgeous yellow orange hue before falling at the tail end of our foliage season.

Our New England foliage season is definitely winding down, and all eyes are on the tropics to see if a tropical system might bring the season to a very abrupt end next week. Meteorological models are very much in disagreement as of this writing, but another strong wind driven rain will just about do the remaining foliage in if it hits early next week. We’ll have to wait and see for now.

This is the last weekend to enter our ‘X’ Marks the Spot Sweepstakes, and our annual photo contest has just two more weeks, with a November 15^th Deadline. We also invite you to visit our Facebook page to view the photography of other foliage fans, or to submit your own.

I hope you get a chance to get out this weekend, there’s still color to be found!

The post Past Peak Doesn’t Mean The Color is Gone appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

There is plenty of good news in this week’s report after a rather difficult few weeks for leaf peepers. After nearly a month of incessant clouds and untimely rainfall, after winds whipped and the first snows fell, things are looking up in central and southern zones in New England. The region has come out of an atypical mid-season foliage lull, the colors have come roaring back in a good portion of Central and Southern New England over the past few days.

The problem turned out to be the early color itself this year, which came in well ahead of normal. When the clouds and rain came in late September though, the reinforcements got held up, leading to a gap in the color continuity. Early color lay on the ground, and much of the rest of the leaves remained green or muted. Now a second wave has finally emerged, and though not as full and robust as peak in a typical year, the trees look good and color is abundant.

Fall Color Has Come Roaring Back in the Past Week All Over New England.

Sadly, this seasonal recovery comes too late in northern areas, which have shed most of their leaves. The mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as the Northeast Kingdom and Crown of Maine count in the areas where the season has largely run its course. That is not to say that there aren’t things to see, or even patches or lingering foliage, but the main show of reds and oranges is done. Young beech trees hold the majority of the remaining color, and visitors this weekend will their find beautiful warm rust tones in the understory. As an added bonus, with most of the leaves down, it’s easier to spot wildlife, and odds are good that you could encounter an amorous moose on the move during the rut.

Moving south into the Lakes Regions of New Hampshire and Maine, and on over to the coastlines, you find the heart of the reemergence of autumn color. Acadia especially has great color right now, as does much of the mid-coast. This is near the normal peak time for these areas, but it’s anything but a normal peak. Some trees are long since bare, some remain green yet, but there is a dominance of color awaiting visitors.

Foliage in Acadia is Looking Great this Week!

New Hampshire’s Merrimack Valley is a surprise gem of color right now, and offers some neat attractions like the Shaker Village, the Frost Homestead and New England’s Stonehenge. It also might be a nice week to hike the miles of easy trails around Lake Massabesic, and visit the Audubon Property there by the undeveloped shorelines.

Into Southern New England, a more traditional peak will be found the further south that you travel. Central and Eastern Massachusetts have nice color right now, with only immediate coastal towns, Boston proper and the Cape lagging behind a bit. It definately isn’t going to be the best color year in these regions, but plenty of nice color can be found. The smaller towns around the Route 495 cooridor, as well as the Merrimack River Valley and the Blue Hills all are a great bet this weekend!

Fall Foliage Has Come On Strong Again in New Hampshire's Merrimack Valley and Surrounding Region

Northern Connecticut may have the brightest color in all of New England this weekend, with peak coming in to our twice selected ‘Best Foliage Town’ of Kent, Connecticut. For those in Eastern Connecticut, a drive down Route 169, through mixed farm, forest and field would make for a great day this weekend. 

It may have been a bit of an unconventional route, but we’re definitely showing some great color all around Southern New England. After much promise and early color, there was good reason to worry, but it looks like this is a great weekend to be out and about, taking in the autumn color.

While you are exploring, be sure to send us a report back either on our foliage Facebook page, or through our foliage app. And if you capture that quintessential picture of fall foliage, be sure to enter it in our photography contest, which runs through November 15^th.

We’ll see you out amongst the leaves!

The post Peak Autumn Color Comes to Southern New England appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Foliage HAD been just about perfect this year…some were calling it epic in the far north. Colors had emerged early as predicted, and were bright.

Fantastic Foliage, Like In This Vermont Scene, Was Present Early This Season

Unfortunately, the weather has taken a dramatic turn in the past few weeks, and the change has not been kind to much of the foliage. In the far north, the season is nearly over, and the first snowfall has already occurred in the mountains this past weekend. At the other end of the spectrum, Rhode Island and Connecticut are just getting into the game. The area in the middle had some great color, has now lost a good deal of that good color, and is awaiting another cold snap to continue turning. There is a lack of continuity in the season this year, and the foliage conditions are changing fast.

An Early Season Snowfall Occurred this Weekend in the Northern Mountains

The situation is definitely complex, and significantly less rosy than it was merely a week ago. The blog this week will be as straightforward of an honest reflection as I’ve been able to piece together in this evolving situation.

The root of the foliage issues that we are currently seeing arose around the official start of autumn. Using data from the legendary Mount Washington Observatory in the heart of foliage country, it has rained (or snowed) 12 of the last 16 days now. Temperatures have been generally cool, but with little day/night variation, and sunshine has been very minimal. This was a distinct change from the lead up to autumn in the beginning of September, where in the previous period of 16 days, it only rained during 4, with abundant sun, and cool, crisp mornings.

Clouds and Rainy Weather Have Been Persistent in New England For The Past Two Weeks

The stretch of dry, sunny weather was perfect to bring out the fantastic early foliage that we saw throughout much of central and northern New England. Peak foliage was amazing in the far north, and by the beginning of October, much of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine all were experiencing high color, with strong reds and oranges abounding.

The poor weather of recent unfortunately caught up with us over the past week though, leading to a significant muting of the colors. Three frontal systems also brought periods of heavier rains and gusty winds, and a subsequently significant leaf drop.

While both the far north and central regions are now muted, the differences between them are quite stark. In the far north, much of the early color lays on the ground, and there are plenty of bare trees in the landscape. With few oak trees in this region, and the only remaining color is on beech trees and straggling maples. It’s mostly a palate of gold and rust. Pretty, but definitely past peak.

Much of the Color in the Far North Now Lays on the Ground

South and east of the mountains and far north, and over towards the coastal plains, the region has seemingly regressed from beautiful high early color to muted moderate color, with mainly yellows and oranges again. There are some bare trees now, but there are also plenty of oaks and late maples that haven’t turned yet in a strange lack of continuity to the season’s colors. This is true from Acadia, down to the New Hampshire coast and through central Massachusetts. There is definitely foliage around, but more color is coming to these regions, as soon as some clear cool mornings come back.

Foliage Color is Muted, But Definitely Present on the Eastern Kank This Week

Further south, the foliage is more dominated by the later turners anyway, and the color should be continuing soon and on schedule, as soon as this wet pattern breaks down and we get more dominant sunshine.

It’s not all bad news though, as there are some select areas are riding this weather pattern out better than the rest. Route 302 from the base of Crawford Notch through Conway over to the Lakes Region of Maine always turns a bit later than the rest of the mountains, and looked good even through this pattern. The Monadnock region of New Hampshire as well as Southeast Vermont also held onto color a bit better than other areas, and should look nice this weekend.  And in some hollows of the Berkshires, there actually could be some nice peak color this weekend!

Elsewhere, I’ve also heard that Acadia has plenty of trees ready to pop, and if we get some cool weather, they should also look good there! Central Massachusetts is patchy in ready to emerge high color as well, and a drive in the western and central parts of the state could be a fun treasure hunt this weekend.

Some Early Bright Color Has Fallen, But Plenty of Green Leaves are Poised to Turn in Acadia

As you are driving around, we certainly would appreciate your reports on your foliage findings to our website foliage map, or though our foliage app. You can also check in and leave a picture or report on our Facebook page, which has shared many amazing pictures from fans this year.

To sum up the week, there is plenty of color around outside of the far northern zones, but it is not as bright as we had perhaps hoped for, at least not now. It may be a great weekend to go to an autumn destination…a festival, a farm, an orchard, a corn maize, a haunting. There’s so much that New England has to offer in autumn, and we can relish in those with the leaves in a lull.  And hopefully by next week, favorable weather will return!

The post Recent Rains Prove Setback For New England Foliage appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Columbus Day provides a well-timed three day weekend during the height of foliage season, meaning it’s peak time for leaf peepers. New England rolls out the red carpet for the holiday, not just with the colors in the trees, but with many fantastic annual events scheduled as well. Fall festivals and agricultural fairs and Oktoberfests are all on the calendar, as well as all the traditional activities and attractions the region is noted for in autumn. New England is in high gear, and the color sure seems to be cooperating this year too!

When I first got my 2012 calendar, I’ll admit that I was worried about how the colors would match up to the observance date for Columbus Day. Traditionally, the holiday falls on the second Monday of the month, and that puts it on only the eighth this year, the earliest possible. With great fortune though, the foliage has come early this year, and a large portion of the four northern states are in fine foliage dress, ready to put on a show this weekend.

Strong Red Tones Are Abundant This Foliage Season

The color hasn’t just come on early, it’s come on strong, making this one already one of the brightest foliage displays in a few years. The weather through much of the month of September had been ideal for bringing out this great color, with warm, sunny days and cool, crisp nights the norm through most of September. This is perfect weather for the manufacture of red pigments in the leaves, and in many areas, this color isn’t just present, but dominant at peak.

We saw spectacular peak foliage during the last full week of September in areas from Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom to New Hampshire’s North Woods, and arcing up to the Crown of Maine. 

Dixville Notch At Peak Foliage Last Week

The consistently cool weather has also brought strong color out in areas far south of where we normally expect it this time of year. Jenne Farm in Vermont, and Lower Falls on the Kancamagus Highway have well documented target dates for peak, and the color is about a week ahead of schedule. This will likely mean two things for our foliage this year:

1. Good, strong color will be widespread throughout Northern New England during Columbus Day Weekend
2. We could see a bit of a compressed season, with much of the area peaking at the same time sometime next week.

For those heading out this weekend, autumn color will not be hard to find. Anywhere in interior Northern New England, including interior Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine all are currently showing at least moderate color. Most coastal areas though are still only generally showing low color, with the exception of Down East Maine, but you need not drive too far inland to find better foliage.

A Pond in Vermont Hits Peak Foliage This Past Weekend

The best color this weekend will be found along the spine of the Green Mountains, the Central White Mountains, and the Maine Mountains over to Moosehead Lake and Baxter State Park. Good color will also be found in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Central and Northern Vermont, as well as New Hampshire and Maine’s Lakes Regions.  Acadia National Park is worth noting as well, as though it won’t be at peak, color is coming in early, and there will be plenty of nice foliage to peak the interest of visitors.

Additionally, though peak arrived in the far northern reaches last week, there has thus far been little in the way of leaf drop, and the colors are still holding strong. Looking ahead, a cold front this weekend may increase the winds a bit, but it’s likely that good color will still be found in our most northern areas during the holiday.

A Classic View of Peacham Vermont This Past Weekend

Nice rides this weekend might include Appalachian Gap or Northern Rt. 100 in Vermont, or the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire.  Color won’t be at peak yet along the Mohawk Trail, but there will be plenty of nice foliage along the way nonetheless.  The best drive though might be a loop around Route’s 4, 16 and/or 26 around Rangeley and Grafton Notch in Maine, where color could be exceptional this weekend!

Fall foliage season won’t end Columbus Day weekend in New England, but it does seem to be the peak of the tourism season. The colors of autumn generally have yet to arrive in many areas though, and color should be around for weeks to come.  The coastal areas of Northern New England will come in soon, and Eastern Massachusetts, as well as the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut should continue the trend of early than average foliage later this month.

If you are touring this weekend, we’d like to encourage you to check in with us at Yankeefoliage.com with your foliage reports and pictures. You can do this through our website map, or through our mobile app on your smart phones.

Additionally, if you find the perfect fall foliage scene, be sure to keep our photography contest and also our photo sweepstakes in mind. We’d love to see where you go on your autumn adventure.

Perhaps we’ll see you there!  Happy Columbus Day!

The post Finding the Best Foliage Columbus Day Weekend appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Nights are becoming increasingly cooler, as darkness outlasts daylight. A few frosts have nipped the gardens in the far north, ending the growing season with tomatoes still ripening on the vine. The summer birds have gone silent, and many have already migrated south. Northern flickers and turkeys are now the most common birds feeding on the ground, filling the niche that the robins recently filled. The chipmunks and squirrels have also been very active, likely thrilled that there are actually acorns this year!

On the foliage front, we’ve finally reached the point when we can stop making predictions about the colors, and start making actual observations. I took to the road this weekend to begin the process of verifying the forecasts and attempting to understand the complex pattern of how the foliage is coming in this year. I also wanted some make sure that the notion of the leaves changing early this year was actually beginning to play out.

My trip began at dawn near the New Hampshire seacoast, and took me to on a route across New Hampshire, through the Vermont capital, up to the Northeast Kingdom, and over to the White Mountains. Foliage conditions were extremely varied over the course of the journey, ranging from mostly green, to nearly peak.

The Route I Drove To Verify Foliage Forecasts

From southern New Hampshire to the Lakes Region, trees were largely green, with the strongest colors confined to the maples in the swamps. The first location that I saw anything more than in the wetlands was on Route 25C, west of Warren, one of my favorite foliage thoroughfares in New Hampshire. Near the high point in the road, where the Appalachian Trail crosses it, there were some fine red tones mixed in with the fading greens. The colors soon receded again though as I dropped down into the Connecticut River Valley.

Once I crossed the river, I took a dip south to the villages of Corinth and Chelsea, where the landscape is comprised of a beautiful mix of farmland and forest amidst rolling hills. It’s classic pastoral Vermont, and a popular area for touring and photography. In this area, the leaves weren’t green, but they also weren’t turning any sort of bright color, seemingly only fading. Fortunately this was the ONLY area of poor canopy conditions that I encountered on my entire 600 mile journey this weekend, as most areas looked primed for a great show. Perhaps this area missed all of the summer storms and was abnormally dry, but whatever the cause, it was very localized, but worth noting.

The health of the canopy improved when I turned back north and rejoined Route 302, and I found another great run of color on classic Route 100 west of Montpelier. Through Stowe, strong reds were pleasantly mixed with greens, which became even bolder when I turned into Smuggler’s Notch. For those who have never traveled across the notch, it’s a definite ‘Top Five Must Drive’ road in New England, with narrow hairpin turns and fantastic geological features lining the road. At elevation in the notch, the foliage was pushing near peak, with strong color up and down the mountainsides.

Foliage is Coming on Strongly on Northern Hillsides

From there, I ventured over to the southern extent Northeast Kingdom, where I encountered the first strong color outside of the mountains. This tucked away corner of Vermont usually reaches peak before the last of September, and this year it’s on track to outpace that by a few days. In fact, all of the foliage along the journey was definitely a little early, but perhaps not the week early that we’ve been expecting.

My last stop was the Zealand area of the White Mountains. This high valley is one of the earliest place to turn in Northern New Hampshire, and to my surprise, it was already just a few days away from peak this past weekend. It was here that I camped for the night and was treated to a spectacular morning watching the mist rise over one of the valley’s many ponds.

Foliage on Middle Sugarloaf From Wildlife Pond

The Zealand Valley is not at all representative of the rest of the White Mountains, which are just beginning to turn south of the notches. Though we’ve been showing so many great foliage pictures on our Facebook Page, these photos are generally sent in from of only a small portion of the region. Most of New England is in the early stages of color, including popular areas like Acadia, Baxter State Park, the Southern Green Mountains and the Berkshires.

To summarize my findings and relate them to our earlier forecasts, the color is a few days ahead of normal, and a general strong show of color is expected, with some local variation. The color will soon move from the remote areas in the far north down through the mountains, and then slowly to southern New England and the coastal areas over the next four to five weeks. There’s plenty of time to see the colors across the region!

To time your visit, the historical foliage forecaster map will do a good job this year, but you’ll have to move the peak a few days up. And as the colors emerge in your area, or as you take a foliage road trip of your own, be sure to report your findings to our foliage map, or upload a report or picture through our smartphone apps.

It’s finally showtime…here’s to a great season ahead!

The post A New England Roadtrip to Verify Foliage Forecasts appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

To take advantage of the perfect weather, I headed off to our local apple orchard with some friends and their one year old, Annie. After we purchased, and promply ate some cider doughnuts on the tractor ride back to the apples, we were thrilled to see Annie catch on quickly! Though she found lots of branches with low hanging fruit, she really enjoyed being hoisted to the upper branches to pick some high ones. The apples were perhaps a bit more sparse this year due to late frosts last spring, but there were plenty for our friend’s family to lay the foundations of fine autumn memories!

Annie Enjoying Her First Time Apple Picking

The cool fall-like weather has been great for the emerging autumn colors as well. The best foliage years come about when warm sunny days give way to cool clear nights for extended stretches of time, and this year’s autumn approach is shaping up to be as good as any in recent memory. Rain and storms have moved through quickly, allowing soils to dry in between under abundant sunshine. Even the high winds this midweek were well timed, as the trees were still green enough to be generally spared from much loss.

Hints of foliage color are noticeable now throughout the Northern New England states, and stronger color has come on near the Canadian border. In many areas the color continues to be early this year, but perhaps not as abnormally so as originally predicted.

The Crown of Maine is leading the way with as much as half of the color already in, but the Connecticut Lakes region of northern New Hampshire is not far behind. The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont is a bit further belated, but with cool nights and perhaps widespread frosts expected later this week, the color should come on quite quickly. All of these areas should be showing high color by the middle of next week, a few days after the calendar makes the season official.

Thereafter, from the far north the color will move in a wave south and east across New England, taking some time fully cross the mountains, which act as a climatological bottleneck. The lower elevations of the mountain regions are still mostly green to this point, with strong but sporatic highlights of red and rust in the higher elevations. Even south of the mountains though, it’s hard to drive anywhere though without seeing a random sugar maple fringed with orange, or the birches that are speckled gold.

Photographer Kevin Talbot Captures a Touch of Color Among a Sea of Green

For me, last weekend was one of nostalgia, of staying close to home, connecting with friends and family and celebrating our pastoral roots. Of baking apple pies and introducing a new generation to all that is autumn.  Hearing about high color has given me itchy feet though, and I’ll be heading out on a road trip and hike this weekend, traveling to the far north to extend the season that I enjoy so much.  It’ll be a weekend of adventure, of new sites and sights in areas of New England I rarely explore.

There’s simply so much to see and do in New England in autumn, and it’s all just about upon us now.

Hopefully you are planning to join us this season! We’ll see you soon!

The post Fall Foliage Emerges in Far Northern New England appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

The autumn-like air arrived on a gusty northwest wind, a signal recognized by the region’s raptors as an impetus to begin migration. New England serves as a major flyway for birds heading back south from their summer nesting grounds, and for many, watching the birds circle and kettle from high ridges is an exciting rite of autumn. Thousands of Broad Winged Hawks were already on the move this week, and many more are staging in the area, waiting for the next cold front to move through to start their journey.

There are many ‘Hawk-Watching’ locations scattered around New England where you can become a citizen scientist, learning about and helping to count these beautiful birds along their southward journey. Some of the most popular spots include:

• Pack Monadnock in New Hampshire
• Putney Mountain in Vermont
• Mount Wachusett in Massachusetts
• Quaker Ridge in Connecticut

In a normal year, most of these migrants will have moved on by the time that autumn color comes on strong, but it’s beginning to look like this year’s forecasts for an early autumn are validating. This past week I spent time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and found a surprising amount of color at the higher elevations. At Kancamagus Pass, at an elevation of nearly 3000 feet, I found maybe 15% of the trees turning, and boldly standing out amongst the otherwise green hillsides. In my experience, this amount of quality color is about a week ahead of a normal year’s schedule.

Early Color is Emerging at Higher Elevations in the White Mountains

Also encouraging was the quality of color to be found. The hues that have emerged are rich, deep reds, very different from the early colors last year. Overall, the canopy looks fairly healthy, aside from the surprisingly small percent stressed by the drought. It could turn out to be a very nice autumn show if the weather over the next few weeks continues to cooperate.

Thus far, the weather this week has been picture perfect, with clear skies supporting temperatures nearly reaching the freezing point before rebounding into the 70s and even 80s. Such quintessential autumn weather is critical to the emergence of quality color, as trees respond to these conditions by creating anthocyanins, or red pigments, which serve as a sunscreen of sorts as the chlorophyl breaks down. Another front looks to move through before the weekend, and then more favorable weather is generally forecast for the longer (8 to 14 day) term.

Long Range Forecast For a Cool Temperature Trend (8-14 Day Forecast)

Besides the higher elevations of the White Mountains, spotty color is emerging in far Northern New Hampshire and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. A bit more widespread color is even being found in the Crown of Maine already. If the trend for early color continues, and there’s little reason to believe it won’t, all of these areas will likely reach peak shortly after the equinox.

Thereafter, by the turn of the calendar, we’ll likely find an early peak in the Northern Green and White Mountains, as well as the Moosehead and Rangeley Regions of Maine. Further, and it’s harder to call this far out, by Columbus Day Weekend there should be a nice range of color widespread across the Berkshires, and the majority of inland Northern New England…though a lot can happen between now an then so I’ll temper my tentative enthusiasm! 

To sum things up for the week, I’ve been encouraged by early reports of bold emerging color, and it looks like the long range pattern is showing good support for a nice show. Additionally, it seems the color is coming early, perhaps by as much as a week. 

If you are seeing early color at your location, be sure to report it on through our mobile foliage app and on our website.  Hopefully the news will continue to be as encouraging next week!

The post Signs Point To An Early Autumn Season in New England appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

A few specialized and isolated environments throughout New England have already begun to change color despite the warm weather. The high alpine zones, typically above 4000ft of elevation, have a mix of golden brown and rich red with the fading summer greens. Lowland bogs and swamps have also begun to turn due to their perpetually poor growing conditions. Interestingly, when you combine these two specialized environments in a high elevation bog, you can find patches of peak color, even on Labor Day!

Alpine Bog in Peak Color on the Carter-Moriah Trail

While waiting out the warm weather, I spent time this past week getting my camera gear cleaned and ready for the upcoming weeks of intensive outings. Photography is such an integral part of the autumn experience, and sharing our photos has become so much easier since the dawn of social media. Yankee Foliage sites have not only become a central place to learn about the autumn foliage in New England, but now also offer an opportunity to join with a community of foliage fans. Our Facebook page is a great place to post pictures, and our Foliage Smartphone App lets you post foliage photos and reports from the road.

Yankee Magazine has further sweetened the incentives to capture the season by sponsoring two great photography contests this year. The ‘X Marks the Spot Sweepstakes,’ is simple to enter, and everyone has an equal chance of winning. Simply submit a photo of yourself at your favorite foliage spot online, and hope all your lucky charms come through for you! The prize package is fantastic!

The second photo contest, the annual Fall Photo Contest, will require a bit of artistry to win, but the winning photo of this contest will be published in the Autumn 2013 issue of Yankee Magazine and featured prominently on the website.

Capturing a compelling image requires a little bit of extra effort from the photographer, but almost everyone who explores the art of photography occasionally comes away with a shot that could easy be considered highly in our contest.  To increase your odds though, you might want to keep these tips in mind while exploring this autumn:

1. Slow Down
   So often I see foliage enthusiasts racing from sight to sight, spending just seconds out of their cars to snap away aimlessly at the scene. Scaling back on the itinerary, and taking time to find the best vantage at a location can pay dividends when looking back upon your trip this winter. Better yet, challenge yourself to put your camera on a tripod, and when framing the shot, look not only at the subject, but all areas in the viewfinder to make sure that a crazy trash can isn’t creeping in on the side!

2. Know Your Camera
   Modern cameras make taking a perfect exposure incredibly easy, but taking the camera out of ‘full automatic’ mode allows you to explore your own creativity. Try placing your camera on a rock and slowing down the shutter speed by a stream to try for that silky look. Maybe try opening up the aperture all the way to isolate your subjects in a narrow focus. Take time to read the manual, and start practicing now so you know how to use your camera when it counts!
   

   Glowing Shores at Beaver Pond From Stong Side Light

3. Pay Attention to the Light
   As an exercise, find a large old maple tree in a field, and while walking all the way around it, watch how the light changes in the leaves. When the sun is at your back, and the front of the tree lit, the color can look flat, or muted even at peak conditions. Side lighting or back lighting the same tree can give it a magical glowing look, and your photos a completely different mood. Shooting towards the sun will allow you to capture striking silhouettes, while pointing the camera away from the sun will lead to the stronger foliage on film.  And on cloudy or rainy days that seem so gray to you, the camera often captures colors the best!
   

   A Strong Foreground Element Makes Your Pictures Unique

4. Include a Compelling Foreground
   It happens almost every year, but it’s always spectacular. The high mountains get dusted with snow while the valleys below are still exhibiting the height of peak color. If you want a picture of a snow covered Katahdin, there are almost an infinite number of compositions you could create with the peak in the background. The best shots will focus on including a strong foreground element, like a tree, a rock wall, a bridge or a water feature. If you can tie the foreground to the background with a strong middle ground as well…you’ll have a great shot in this contest!

5. Purchase a Polarizer.
   Digital photo editing has become nearly as ubiquitous as digital photography, but there’s still no replacement for starting with a quality image out of the camera. To this day, there is no magical button in photoshop that can duplicate the effects of a circular polarizing filter. Attaching this extra glass to the front of you lens will allow you to reduce the glare off of autumn leaves, allowing their true colors to shine through. It can darken the look of the bluebird skies autumn, and intensify the reflections on bodies of water. Not to overstate its importance, but my polarizer rarely leaves my lens during the entirety of autumn.
   

   Morning Mist Adds Great Atmosphere to Autumn Photos

6. Get Up Early!
   The few hours before sunset, and the few hours after sunrise are often referred to as the golden hours by professional photographers. This special light offers soft contrasts and warm tones, which enhance most landscape scenes. While evenings are often nice, I try to never miss an autumn morning. In addition to the great light, you’ll find that animals are more active, and the atmosphere more dynamic. While contemplating whether or not to ignore the alarm, picture a pond with a heavy cloak of mist concealing peak color. A loon interrupts the silence with its solemn call, and just as you are about to open the shutter, a moose walks into the frame.

Sounds perfect right about now doesn’t it!

Yeah. I’ll see you there.

The post Tips to Improve Your Foliage Photography this Fall appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

The financial cost of the storm in New England has topped one billion dollars, with Vermont leading the tally sheet with 500 miles of roads, 34 bridges and 3,500 homes damaged or destroyed. It was the toll to families and communities that was most heart-wrenching though, with a cost that simply cannot be assessed.

New England is forever changed after Irene, but it has been amazing to see the communities coming together and rallying back. Initial relief was generally swift and organized, with long term rebuilding efforts moving forward with great planning and forethought.

The impact to leaf peepers and visitors this fall should be quite minimal, with nearly every road patched and nearly every trail re-stabilized thanks to incredible efforts by professional and volunteer crews across the region. The overall message from state tourism boards…New England is open for business and ready to share our beautiful fall season with you.

The Zealand Area of the White Mountain National Forest was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Irene. A new bridge now spans the wetlands near where the old one was destroyed. Photo courtesy Michael Saletnik

It won’t be long now either, as Labor Day weekend is upon us, which marks the traditional end of summer.  Evenings are already coming earlier, and though days are still longer than nights, the gap is closing. Longer nights allow for a greater settling of the air, and recent mornings have been cool, quiet and still.

The autumn air at dawn is often filled with morning mist, but it can also capture and concentrate the familiar smells of autumn during the overnight. The Concord grapes that grow behind my house announced their ripening in an overwhelming rush to the olfactory this morning…a bit ahead of schedule, but none the less welcome.

Concord Grapes, Which Grow Wild in Many New England Forests, Are Ripening

Also early this year are this year’s crop of apples, where there are apples at least. The strange spring weather, with frost after the trees flowered, has destroyed the crop at some orchards.  Checking in around New England though, it seems the frost has been hit or miss, there are plenty of apples that survived and are waiting to be picked.  I’m hopeful that by next week’s blog, I’ll have an apple pie and a grape pie under my belt!

Gould Hill Farm, in Contoocook, NH is opening this weekend for PYO Apples. Because of their hilltop location, their early blossoms were safe from the spring frosts.

With the fall fruits and the overall harvest coming early this year, I had thought that perhaps the swamp maples would be turning this week as well. With the dry summer though, the swamp maples are left a bit more high and dry than usual, and the color is actually a bit late. I’d therefore look for some nice color to emerge in the wetland areas this coming week!

Other signs abound as well. School is back in session, and the sounds of high school football will fill the small towns this Friday night. The farm stands are full of the summer’s bounty, but autumn flowers, chrysanthemums and kale are now along side. Local swimming holes are cooling below inviting temperatures, and autumn brews are replacing summer seasonal at the local watering holes.

One final sign of the approaching autumn this week is the arrival of Yankee Magazine’s autumn issue on the newsstands. The beautiful cover is quintessentially New England, and the the autumn feature, which covers our fall season from ‘A to Z’ is garnering much acclaim.

The issue also introduces a new photo contest, which will be discussed at length here in next week’s foliage blog.  I’ll also be providing helpful tips to get the most out of your camera when capturing autumn photos this fall.

Until then, have a great Labor Day weekend!

The post A Year After Irene, a New Normal in New England appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

It seems that in New England, everything puts on a show during the fall. The pumpkins turn orange, the grapes purple, the apples red, and the brook trout turn a full kaleidoscope of colors with their bellies ablaze. As the sun got higher, the temperatures warmed, the mist faded and the trout slowed their bite, but the skies remained a deep, clear blue. The haze and humidity, so persistent this summer, were gone; It was the first fall-like day of the season!

Morning Mist is a Regular Feature of Fall in New England

We’ve been fortunate to be in a streak of similar mornings now, the likes of which we’ve not seen since the very beginning of summer. During these first cool periods after the dog days abate, New Englanders often first notice the changes taking place in the landscape around them. They might see some yellow color in the birch trees, the species perhaps most susceptible to seasonal stress. They might see the swamp maples turning red, or the ferns underneath turning a golden brown. It’s easy to feel like the season is rushing in, that time is tight, and maybe even that things are progressing faster than years past.

In retrospect though, it seems that every year around this time we feel that autumn is coming early. When we look back at the records however, we can be comforted in knowing that we talked about the early birches last autumn, and the autumn before that. Such early signs are reminders, but hardly indicators. While we do expect the season to be a bit early, it’s far from imminent.  We are about a month away from the region’s earliest peak in the far north, and the weather over the next month will also be influential in determining exactly how our autumn will play out.

It is perhaps in our nature though that we nonetheless worry about the lack of time towards the end of summer.  Maybe it’s out of fear of not accomplishing all we set out to do, or worse, the fear of missing out on something. Visitors to our area also seem to feed off our worrisome disposition when planning their trips though, concerned that they will miss our great display of colors. They hear of this elusive, magical ‘PEAK’ and perhaps think that the show is shortlived. They picture new England as a unit, which leads to broad questions like ‘When will New England foliage be peak this year.’ These notions are far from truth.

Autumn is about change, sure, but the change is actually rather slow.  Color doesn’t come on all at once, but instead begins to emerge about two weeks before peak, and lasts for about two weeks after. Before peak, the color is mixed with green, and after, it’s mixed with rust tones as crispy color increases underfoot. Different species turn at different times too. Long after the birches and maples turn, the beeches and oaks and tamaracks hold their colors. Even the notion of peak itself is in the eye of the beholder, and pinpointing a day that peak occurred any given year is a futile exercise.

Furthermore, though New England is relatively small in area, it has an impressive variety of terrain and geographical features. If we return to the wonderful cool weather of recent mornings, and look at the temperature variations across Vermont, we can easily find a twenty degree spread.

Morning Temperature Variations in Vermont

There were cool temperatures on the mountain tops, cold air in the valleys and warm breezes near the lake. The progression of autumn follows a similar pattern. The Vermont State Foliage Website shows with these detailed maps how the mountains and high valleys in the far turn colors first, as early as mid September.  This is followed by the spine of the state changing with the turn of the calendar, and finally, perhaps a month after the show started in the Northeast Kingdom, the shores of Lake Champlain reach peak. There are similar patterns in every state through the region (see NH, ME, MA, and CT), and it therefore makes missing the actual pinpointed peak both easy to do at any given location, but near impossible to do over the course of a foliage trip!  Our map here at Yankee Foliage should give you the best idea of how color progresses regionwide.

Color is pervasive throughout New England for almost the whole of the autumn season, and lasts for a few weeks when it arrives at a single location.  Therefore when planning a dream foliage vacation, or just a weekend drive, you should find comfort in knowing that there will be foliage for you to find. If you are too late in the north, drive further south.  Better color may not be all that far away.  If you are too early on the coast, travel inland or up in elevation.  You’ll likely find early color and color that is perhaps past on the same day. You may even arrive at exactly what you envisioned peak would be.  But color, you’ll find it, and it will all be beautiful.

We’ll see you soon!

The post The Undue Fear of Missing Peak Foliage appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

New Englanders look forward to the Autumn season with eager anticipation every year. It’s a season full of celebration, preparation, and beauty, complete with foliage, fairs and festivals.  Because of this, New England is known worldwide and draws many visitors who have planned dream vacations to enjoy the season with us.

As these visitors diligently try to time and pinpoint their trips to see peak conditions, I’m most often asked:

1. When will peak be this year?
   and
2. How good are the colors going to be this year?

The good news is that in general, the leaves follow a predictable pattern in a given location year after year. Peak generally occurs within a two week window, and the weeks surrounding peak are usually full of color. Additionally, New England has enough geographic and geologic variability that if the colors somehow disappoint in a particular spot, you typically need not drive far to find color in a different valley, or elevation, or aspect. If you travel the around time of the historical peak, beautiful foliage colors will not be hard to find. Yankee Foliage has a great map of average peak foliage times to aid in your planning!

View Of New England Foliage Over Squam Lake in 2011

Those questions of when and how are nonetheless merited though, as no two foliage seasons are ever alike. Seasons can be short or long, red or orange, early or late. We know good years when we see them, and like last year, we know poor years. We know that the best years are made possible by a warm, reasonably wet spring, a moderate summer with adequate rainfall and an autumn season that features a dominance of warm, dry days and cool nights, with only occasional rainfall.

So how will this year stack up?

To start that conversation we have to take a look back at the past year, and see what stresses the trees have endured since last foliage season. In a nutshell, for the year, temperatures have been above normal, and precipitation around normal, but the individual events that comprise this ‘normal’ have been anything but. And this could complicate this years autumn outlook.

Last year, the season of autumn colors came to an abrupt end with a historic snowstorm in October, which caused considerable disruption, as well as damage to the trees which had yet to shed their leaves for the season. This impressive storm was far from a winter harbinger though, as it turned out to be the single biggest snow event of the entire year.  Region wide, this past winter ended in the bottom five on record for snow, and Concord, New Hampshire had their least winter snowfall ever.  By spring, the lack of any snow pack created extremely anomalously dry soil moisture conditions in the spring, as instead of mud-season while the trees bud out, we had brush-fires.

The winter of 2011-2012 was generally warm and dry in New England.

In addition to the warm, dry winter, we had the warmest spring on record as well. In late March, Boston had five consecutive all time daily record highs, each above 80 degrees. This heat caused the trees to bud out and flower as much as a month early, but when temperatures then returned to only reasonably above normal, the leaf out was again halted for a few more weeks. Unfortunately, during this time, some areas received a frost that damaged flowers and tender vegetation. This very early spring and frost damage may impact fall foliage, but it will certainly affect the autumn apple and grape crops in many areas. Though I couldn’t find any New England statistics, New York state has reported a 200 million dollar loss in apples, peaches and cherries alone!

Following the historically warm spring, summer actually started off with below normal temperatures in June, the first cooler than normal month in the Northeast in over a year. July and August have gone right back above normal though, and, especially in the western portions of New England, rainfall has been sparse. Drought conditions across the Berkshires and Connecticut could be a major player in the foliage this year.

Parts of New England are Experiencing Drought Conditions

Relatively dry conditions can cause the leaves to turn a bit ahead of schedule, but they can also help bring out strong fall colors when teamed with favorable autumn conditions. An early spring can also cause leaves to turn earlier than historical averages, and we did have a historically early spring. But as we learned last year, a predictable and perhaps favorable set up holds true only if the autumn weather cooperates.

Last year, a relatively good spring and summer setup was muted due to a warm wet autumn.  These conditions usually limit autumn colors, but they were also exacerbated by an outbreak of leaf fungus called anthracnose, which while present every year, really flourished in 2011.  We do not yet see this becoming a major player this year. 

Instead, the long term forecasts for this fall are based upon the development of a weak El Nino pattern. In this type of pattern, the Northern tier of the country tends to stay a bit more mild, but is influenced largely by a split jet stream. This can, and very well might give us a very favorable autumn of warm days, cool nights, and relatively dry weather. Only a pattern like this will bring about the strong red colors that seem to come around every few years, so we can hope that the forecasts are right for a favorable fall.

Long Range Temperature Outlook For Fall and Winter

So what does all this mean?

To sum all this up, and give my official outlook, I would say that chances are good for an autumn season that comes a bit early, especially in the western portions of the region. I would also say that it the trees in New England have been through some rather unprecedented events in the past year, and it is therefore difficult to predict the strength of the overall colors, but conditions could be favorable for the development of red pigments this autumn. Otherwise, it may just shape out to be an average color year that emerges a bit early.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be providing more details as to estimated peak times for the 2012 foliage season, as well as give insight into events, regions and the overall attraction of the autumn season in New England. I hope you check back often, and follow along with me as we move closer and closer to this most anticipated season!

The post New England Fall Foliage Outlook For 2012 appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Jim Salge Yankee's foliage blogger

Jim Salge returns for the 2012 foliage season to provide Yankee readers with foliage forecasts. He’ll also be sharing his experiences as a photographer and providing you with great tips to help you take better photos.

As a former meteorologist at the Mount Washington Observatory, Jim is a keen observer of the progression of the seasons in New England. He’ll use his knowledge of weather, geography and climate to pinpoint the best time to visit a location for the best light, atmosphere, and most importantly, color.

Jim has a deep routed appreciation for the nature and the wilderness, which has manifested itself into numerous outdoor pursuits. He spends his free time exploring the New England landscape, often beginning before dawn, and staying out after sunset, immersing himself in the ecology of the natural environment. He has long enjoyed hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking and cross country skiing, but now plans these activities to compliment his photography.

The post Jim Salge Returns for the 2012 Foliage Season appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

On Halloween, 86% of the Northeast had snow cover, which averaged more than 4 inches in depth. At the Yankee Magazine headquarters in Dublin, New Hampshire, there was over two feet, and in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, there were locations that received more than 30 inches. I’ve seen heavy snow in the mountains in October before, and have seen a quick inch accumulate in October squalls elsewhere, but this storm simply has no parallel until you look back all the way to the 1830′s.

Snowfall Map for the Historic Noreaster

The late foliage season this year, and the abnormal autumn weather up to this point has unfortunately added to the damage caused by this storm. Leaves which usually rest under the trees this time of year still clung steadfast to the branches, trapping snow and dragging them down. The added weight contributed to over two million customers losing power during this storm in the New England region.

For the optimists though, the storm provided rare opportunities to witness a beautiful clashing of the seasons, with fresh snow accentuating the late color on the trees. Photographers Jeff Newcomer and Scott Snyder, both of New Hampshire, shared pictures that are stunning in simplistic beauty, captured among the chaos of conditions around them. Perhaps you also captured some photographs for the YankeeFoliage.com photo contest in this storm as well, as the deadline is now fast approaching.

Scott Snyder Found a Scene that Highlights How Late the Foliage Was This Season

Jeff Newcomer Captured The Clash of the Seasons Beautifully in Southwest New Hampshire

The snowstorm, as well as turn of the calendar page ends my time sharing in this autumn season with you each week. The season began with so much promise, but a persistent pattern of abnormal autumnal weather reduced the show in many areas. In the far north, a few early cold nights kick started the foliage on time, and the show was beautiful in the northern and western mountains of New Hampshire, and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Then the rains came. And kept coming. A lack of cold air and an over abundance of soil moisture exacerbated a anthracnose fungus outbreak, causing leaves that were ready to turn to get held up, turn brown, and fall prematurely. Generally across the majority of New England, the year turned out to be below average in terms of color. In fact, many areas never truly saw a peak this year. The maples and birches fell early, and the oaks and beeches turned late. There was a lull in color occurring when the traditional peak times would normally be. And the leaves that didn’t fall early hung on late, adding to the problems we are seeing now.  In fact, even as this blog draws to a close and with snow on the ground, there will still be lingering color in many areas, especially Boston proper, and Southern Connecticut and Rhode Island for a few weeks.

Northern and Western Regions of New Hamsphire and Vermont Had Great Early Color

It wasn’t all bad news this year. Weather on the busiest tourism and leaf peeping weekend of the year was beyond postcard perfect for four straight days. Record high temperatures and endless views had people flocking to trail heads and overlooks in numbers I’d never seen in the region on Columbus Day. Agricultural fairs and pick your own farm offered all the usual joys of the autumn season, and the apple harvest was fantastic throughout New England this year. It was a year that many recognized that autumn in New England isn’t just about the leaves, and the culture of autumn activities is what helps draw so many to the region each year.

Often throughout this autumn while traveling, or here on the blog, I was asked if fall was my favorite season. My honest answer is that in New England, the next season is my favorite season, as there’s so much to look forward to every time of year. My thoughts now turn to snowshoeing many of the trails I hiked this autumn. To thoughts of sitting in ski lodges sipping on hot chocolate between runs. To the sights and smells of the holiday season. I’ll be continuing to photograph and write and wander around New England this coming winter and spring and summer sharing my experiences on my personal website and Facebook page.

As we sign off for the season on this blog, I’d like to thank the readers for all the feedback that I’ve received this year. These reports would not have been possible without so many of you responding to the blog, emailing me and sharing your stories and foliage reports on our Facebook Page.

Thanks for following along, and we’ll see you next year as the colors begin to turn!

The post Historic Snows Bring End to New England Foliage Season appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

The situation can be seen with significantly more clarity today. Thursday into Friday, much of Vermont, as well as inland New Hampshire and Maine, are likely to see the first accumulating snow of the season. The accumulations may reach as far south as northern and western Massachusetts as well. A widespread snowfall while the leaves are on the trees (and in many places still quite green) is quite an unusual event outside of the mountains and far northern tier. The last time I can remember it was in 2005, and in retrospect, the whole foliage season holds many similarities to that year as well. The leaves are late, the color muted and in many areas, no true peak color.

Snowboarding in Late October 2005

The best chances to catch the snow and foliage combination is likely to be the southern and eastern extents of the mountains, where the color is lingering longer. In the far north, there will be more snow, but the only remaining leaves are on the beeches in the understory. These leaves are pretty, but won’t provide much opportunity for wide ranging scenes of snow and color. Further south, the color is stronger, but the snowfall will be tougher to get to stick and stay.

Beech Leaves Provide Past Peak Color in the Northern Forest, Remaining at Times Until the Following Spring

In all but the higher elevations, the snow should be a distant memory by late Friday, and the forecast for the weekend looks pleasant.  Despite the lack of a true peak, the late foliage means that there is still plenty of color to be found this weekend, and with the strange weather this season, it’s showing up in unusual places. In fact, in areas like the Champlain Valley and New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, the color at past peak has been every bit as nice as mid month, and has been very slow to fade. The key in many areas this year is the fact that the oaks never got a cold weather kick start, and are showing their colors separately from the rest of the forest hardwoods. 

Late Foliage in Alton, New Hampshire on 10-21-2011

In southern New Hampshire and southern Maine, the foliage continues to emerge in scattered and sporadic ways, with some strong color still to be found. The shores of the Merrimack River are one such area that emerged this past week, and should continue to hold color after the storm. South of this river valley, Boston remains largely green, with color beginning to pop. A trip to the Blue Hills Preserve, outside of and overlooking the city could be a wonderful visit for this weekend!

Further south in Connecticut and Rhode Island, the color is spotty, making a long drive a nice option. Many great routes are highlighted on Yankeefoliage.com, but I’ve always been partial to Rt. 169 south of Woodstock. During a trip, you might expect many of the mature maples to have shed their leaves, and many of the mature oaks yet to turn. The young maples, as well as the birches and beeches are showing good color though, and are often set among the fine rural and pastoral scenes complete with pumpkin patches and farms along the route.

Overall, it should be an exciting few days of foliage viewing in New England, and there may be some unique opportunities for one of a kind photographs of the clashing of seasons. We hope you take time to enjoy the remaining color, and share it with us at our Foliage Facebook Page. And if you do come away with a great shot, please consider entering it in our Yankee Foliage Photo Contests. The deadline for entries continues through November 15^th.

Until next week, stay warm, and enjoy the show, and Happy Halloween!

The post New England Snow Storm and Late Foliage appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

“If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

The quote, originally attributed to Mark Twain, has been re-uttered by many and adapted to represent everywhere, but this weekend, the original intent rang ever true. A storm system over the far north continued to swing bands of clouds over New England much of the weekend. It would rain, the sun would come out, it would hail, and then a rainbow before more steady sunshine. There was even snow on the highest mountain peaks. The one constant through the weekend was a steady breeze keeping a fall-like feeling in the air.

Peak Foliage in the Saco River Valley, Below Frosty Mountains in the Presidential Range - Courtesy Ryan Knapp, Observer at the Mount Washington Observatory

Not deterred by the temperamental weather, my foliage travels took me through the Lakes Region of New Hampshire this weekend. The colors had changed quickly last week in central and southern New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont as well as Western Massachusetts, and I was eager experience peak south of the mountains. The color was good, but already sparse. The wind had taken down many of both the afflicted and early leaves, and in the villages the color in the crowns was far from postcard perfect. The hillsides though looked great, though, with their strong oranges and golden yellows, so I decided to hike to one of my favorite overlooks above Squam Lake. It rained the whole way up, but the payoff from the ridge was pure magic.

Dramatic Sky From Mount Morgan Overlooking Squam Lake

While the weather was changeable this past weekend, we’ve all been wishing for an overall pattern change to the weather since late August. There has not been a prolonged period of dry, cool, fall like weather all autumn, and a quick check at the climate data from Concord, NH told the whole tale.  Since September first, we are over five inches above normal rainfall, an incredible departure, especially considering that it doesn’t include the rains in late August from Irene. Temperatures have been above normal as well, and overall, with the moisture, lack of cool nights, and general wind and storminess, there have been some significant impacts on the whole of New England foliage.

So where do we stand now?

In the far north and in the mountains, we are trending quickly towards stick season. Peak color has left the trees and lays mainly on the ground. The hillsides have some residual rust tones, and the river valleys have a few lingering maples still turning, but the big show is basically over. The color came late, and left early, the weather causing a compressed season. In this region, the best places to see any significant color will be in wetlands, where tamaracks turn late, or in beech hardwood forests where the understory lingers longer, and sometimes stays on the trees until spring. With clearing weather anticipated, it will be a great weekend to see some of this spot color.

Fading Foliage in Franconia Notch - Courtesy Kristina Folcik

South and eastward, in areas like central and western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and central Maine, we never really had true peak this year. The maples and hickories turned early last week, but the color has largely blown off now. The oaks are still green, and the color in the canopy is now sparse and muted. Perhaps there will be a second peak, when cold temperatures kick-start the oaks, but with more rain in the forecast, it’s not looking very good for extending the season this year. It’s still pretty, and sets a nice backdrop for all the pre-Halloween activities, but for those looking for the postcard perfect shot, the peak has passed.

Coastal Maine also had their peak this week, with Acadia putting on a nice, but muted show. There should still be some color around the park and Bar Harbor this weekend, but it’s certainly beginning to fade. The Midcoast and further south had the same staggered peak as the rest of the region, and the color overall was generally low, with lots of leaf fall. Problems also persist on the immediate coastlines of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where many of the trees are burnt from the salt spray from Irene.

The best color for the coming week will generally be interior southeastern New Hampshire, Eastern Massachusetts, and Northern Rhode Island and Connecticut. Kent and Litchfield, Connecticut, are great foliage towns surrounded by rolling hills, and across the state, Route 169 south out of Woodstock features many pastoral scenes of farms ringed by stone walls. I worry about the quality of the peak colors that will emerge, but the weather looks nice, and the opportunity to get out shouldn’t be passed up.

Even though it’s been a rather down foliage year, people have been finding some great foliage and color, and sharing it on our website and our facebook page. If you’ve gotten a great picture of New England fall color this year, consider entering it in the Yankee Foliage Photo Contest. This year there is also a kid’s competition! Great entries are rolling in, but we are anxiously awaiting your shots from around New England this year.

The weather should be great this weekend, and perhaps our winning photograph is still to be taken, either among the lingering color in the mountain, the fading peak in Acadia, the spot color in central New England, or the emerging peak in Connecticut. It’s all beautiful, enjoy it while it lasts!

The post Foliage Colors Fade in the North, Emerge in Connecticut appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

A full weekend of warm days, cool nights, fair breezes and endless sunshine was exactly what many parts of the region needed as the recovery from Irene continues. People were everywhere, enjoying the annual color display in numbers like I’d not seen in years. In the New Hampshire, every trailhead was packed, every attraction buzzing, and every overlook photographed thousands of times over. In Vermont, folks flocked to farms, and enjoyed the rural landscape. And in Maine, the traffic on the lakes was as busy as the roads surrounding them, but everyone stopped to take in a stunning sunset and simultaneous moonrise. It was the textbook definition of Indian Summer, and it was just about perfect!

While the weather was ideal, the foliage this past weekend continued its unpredictable variability…though the cool nights and frost late last week definitely began to fill in the gaps in color.  Strong color was interspersed with more muted tones, as the rainfall and roller-coaster temperatures haven’t done the foliage any favors this year.  During my weekend journey through each of the northern New England states though, I was able to find areas many areas with simply fantastic color!

Sunny Conditions Created Great Opportunities For Viewing the Peak Colors!

The best foliage this past weekend continued to be from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and down through St. Johnsbury, and over to Bethlehem and Jefferson New Hampshire. This was where the most red color was mixed with the greens and golds. I’ve also heard that there was great color from Rangeley to Moosehead Lake, Maine. I think that this peak color will last through the middle part of this week in these areas, but not long thereafter as some wind and rain moves in increasing leaf fall.  Don’t give up on these areas afterwards though, as past peak often shows hillsides covered in gorgeous rust tones for an additional week or so.

The Northern Mountains Showed Some of the Best Color in New England This Past Weekend...

Southward through the notches, there was peak color to be found as well, but overall the color was a bit more muted than the far northern tier. Though red was largely absent, the yellows, oranges and browns looked dazzling when back lit by the abundant sunshine in Franconia and Pinkham Notches. Golds were also the norm in Groton State Forest in Vermont, where I climbed to Owl’s Head and surveyed a landscape that could only be described as glistening. And my favorite foliage spot of the weekend was along Rt. 25 C west of Warren, New Hampshire, where I found solitude among corridors of unbroken yellow color around Lakes Tarleton and Katherine.

Stunning Peak Color Was Found Along Rt. 25C in NH, Especially Along Lake Katherine's Shores

South and east of these of the mountains, in the foothills and coastal plain, colors were still largely green through the holiday. These areas should advance towards peak by this coming weekend, and have already made significant gains since even the holiday. After a cool night, many folks woke up to very different hues in the leaves on Tuesday than what were there at sunset Monday. It can come on so fast! As a leaf peeper, I would key in on these areas that are popping quickly, like North Conway or the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, Woodstock, Vermont and the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts for the best upcoming color this weekend. The northern coastal areas of Camden and Bar Harbor, Maine have started to tee off as well, and will provide a great color for this and hopefully the next weekend as well!

Further south, in Southern New Hampshire, Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the foliage is just getting started. After rain later this week, a return to cooler temperatures will really start to move the color along. Leaf peeping in these areas often more closely aligns itself to pre-Halloween festivities rather than the harvest and Columbus Day. The leaves will now set the backdrop to pumpkin patches, haunted houses and corn mazes, as the autumn season continues on. The leaves will hold strong until the near the end of the month, and just start to fall in time to stuff the lawn decorations with leaves.

The question remains though, will the colors in these popular spots be as bright as the far north, or mirror much of the rest of the area in the muted golds. I believe the answer will again be heightened variability, and great geographic pliancy. Many areas are suffering from a fungal disease, brought out in force by the incessant rainfall of September, while just down the road, trees seem resistant and vibrant. The color that’s emerging is seemingly fantastic, but there is also some muted and brown as well. But, as we saw this weekend…whatever the colors, it’s good to get out and enjoy it for all that it is.

A Loon Steals the Show Among Muted Color in the White Mountains

I hope you had a great Columbus weekend, and that you continue to share your pictures and stories with us at our website, Yankeefoliage.com, or on our Facebook Page. We are eagerly taking reports on conditions on our foliage map, and hope that these reports can help you find the best foliage this upcoming weekend! I’ll see you out there!

The post Finding New England Peak Color After Columbus Day appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

It’s perhaps hard to separate the culture of the harvest season in New England from the backdrop of the colorful trees. When we imagine any autumn activity, it’s just assumed that there will be peak foliage in brilliant color at every turn. In some regions this weekend, the color will certainly meet expectations. Unfortunately though, in other areas, peepers will have to face a landscape that doesn’t necessarily match what we had hoped for, or expected. For weeks, I’ve been mentioning in this blog that the weather has not been ideal for bringing out the fall colors, but the early indications and progressions were still strong. Sadly, as the rain and warm temperatures kept coming, I’ve had to remove the qualifier from the forecast, as some traditionally strong foliage areas are going to see color that is either late or muted.

I spent a good bit of time this weekend touring the foliage in the White Mountains working on my autumn portfolio, and trying to make sense of any pattern to the peak color. What I can summarize is that you are likely to encounter three completely different sets of foliage conditions this weekend in Northern and Western New England.

In areas that started turning early, there is great color, with strong reds mixed with greens. These tend to be in higher valleys, on western slopes, and areas that received less recent rainfall. On my drive, I found great color in and north of Franconia Notch, along the western Kancamaugus Highway, and around Bretton Woods. I’ve heard similar reports from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and the north slopes of the mountains of Maine. There is some wind in the forecast this week, so it’s likely that there will be a bit of leaf drop in these areas, but there should still be plenty of color there this weekend.

Mount Deception Looks Great in it's Peak Autumn Coat At Dusk Last Friday

In complete opposition to this gorgeous color, in the region extending from coastal plain through the eastern mountains, the foliage continues to be held up thanks to this stretch of warm, wet weather. Driving through the town or Conway, I saw little color difference from what one might expect the second week of September.  I’ve also heard similar reports coming from many towns in southern Vermont as well as the Berkshires. I am hopeful that the color will still emerge in these areas after the upcoming cooler nights, as there is frost in the forecast before the weekend. But the foliage is easily a week behind already, and simply will not become caught up before the weekend.  There will be color, just not peak color.

The third zone unfortunately holds some troublesome sights for foliage lovers in New England, as there are also regions that are stuck in an uninspiring limbo. In the zone between peak and green, the foliage has seemingly given up on waiting out the weather. The color came on too slow, and with no support it is now muted or golden brown instead of rich red and orange. I saw this first hand in Crawford Notch, NH, and heard about it in both valleys of Vermont and all the way over by Baxter in Maine.  There are a few reasons for this, but one of the most likely is the noted increase in a tree fungus called anthracnose, which is attacking the hardwood forests with impressive fervor this year. The fungus is present every year, but it spread well in the wet spring, and bloomed severely in the atypical weather this autumn. I am hoping that these areas are not harbingers for the rest of the season as the foliage finally spreads from the mountains, but truly, only time will tell.

A Moose Stands Among the Muted Foliage in Crawford Notch Saturday Morning

The good news for the weekend, is that the good color, poor color, and low color are all interspersed in close geographic proximity. If the color is poor where you are, try heading to a more westerly, or north facing valley, or away from the coastal plain. I was shocked at times how a drive of only a few miles took me through all three zones. And where the foliage was good, there was truly plenty of beauty to be found.

Yankee Magazine Photographer of the Month Luke Barton Captured Peak Color in Zealand Notch This Past Weekend

With the foliage so variable and so temperamental, this weekend, more so than ever, we are looking forward to your foliage reports at Yankeefoliage.com. Be sure to check in with us and submit your reports to our foliage map. Our Facebook Page has also been abuzz, and foliage fans are awaiting your pictures and tales from your travels. You can also quickly share your photos and reports from the road through our mobile foliage app. Foliage doesn’t live on the digital realm though, and you connection with other leaf peepers shouldn’t merely exist there either. Some of the best information I received this weekend was gained through talking with other hikers, photographers and enthusiasts while out and about. There’s always a great community around fall foliage in New England, and I hope you take full advantage of it.

In summary, the foliage is generally a bit late and in some areas a bit muted, but there is plenty of color to be found. Areas that are further west, and further north than your typical foliage spots on Columbus Day weekend will offer better color. But the weather will be fantastic for autumn activities this weekend, and with a little extra work, and perhaps slightly tempered expectations, I suspect that the overall experience will be as fine as ever.

Enjoy autumn for everything it is! I know I can’t wait either!

The post New England Fall Foliage Columbus Day Weekend appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

To be honest, I’ve actually been quite surprised how strongly the color came on in the past week. The weather has been not very fall-like, and certainly not ideal for the colors to start popping. A strong, stagnant upper level low over the Midwest has kept a stream of soupy air over the entire region. For almost a week now, it has felt more like early August than late September. When my wife and I went apple picking with the dogs this weekend, we were uncomfortably hot, even in shorts. I had to run the air conditioner at night after canning my concord grape jelly, because the house simply wouldn’t cool down. The humidity has been downright tropical, the skies more gray than clear, and the showers plentiful, but still the color has arrived!

Hot Time, Autumn in the Orchard

It’s always amazing how fast the color comes on too. Seemingly overnight, the landscape makes the final push from fading greens to bright colors. I noticed the jump last Thursday on the home commute in New Hampshire’s Merrimack Valley. The whole way home, I was wide eyed, thinking “the colors weren’t this bright this morning.”

Right now, nearly all of the mountains of Northern New England are showing great color. The Greens, Whites, Mahoosucs and the Appalachians of Maine all are nearing peak at moderate elevations. The Berkshires aren’t too far behind, but likely need another week to ripen. Reds have been the most prevalent color so far, standing out strongly against the greens, which are becoming less dominant by the day. Oranges and yellows are present as well, but have yet to come on as strong. It may actually be a down year for yellows, with many birches in poor condition, which will allow the reds to reign paramount. No complaints there.

Local geographic variation has also been very strong this year. Towns in lower elevations and river valleys have very little color yet, while surrounding hillsides and higher elevation villages are very strong. A great example of this variation is in the Berlin / Gorham area of New Hampshire. A twenty minute drive to places like Jefferson Village, Jericho Mountains State Park or Pinkham Notch will take you from very early color to near peak. Overall, the color is setting up to be good this year, perhaps a bit late in some areas.

Jericho Mountain State Park and the Mahoosuc Range, October 3, 2010

For travelers this upcoming weekend, there are going to be two keys to a great trip. The first key is going to be elevation. Anywhere in, through, near or overlooking any of the mountains in New England will provide landscapes filled with color. Great drives might include Smugglers Notch in Vermont, Crawford Notch in New Hampshire, or Grafton Notch in Maine. For hikers, the area in and around Baxter State Park should be exceptional. Camels Hump State Park and Groton State Forest offer varied hiking opportunities in Vermont, and in New Hampshire, the Appalachian Mountain Club is offering a free trial of their online White Mountain Guide with ten great foliage hikes hand selected for the season.

Crawford Notch at Peak in Early October 2007

The second key is going to be a watchful eye on the weather. This persistent pattern looks to finally break around the weekend, but uncertainty remains. Early indications suggest that a coastal storm could trigger the departure of the Midwest storm Friday or Saturday. This shouldn’t surprise anyone in the southeastern part of New Hampshire, who know that it always pours at least one day of the beloved Deerfield Fair. If it stays clear, the Deerfield Fair is far from the only game in town, with great fall favorites like the Fryeburg Fair, Topsfield Fair and the Eastern States Expo, or simply, The Big E. And if the rain does come in, there is a solid silver lining. The gray skies make for great foliage pictures, and the rainfall makes streams and waterfalls more energetic and photogenic.

Thompson Falls in Pinkham Notch on a Rainy Day

If you can’t travel this weekend, and are waiting until Columbus Day weekend, there promises to even more widespread color next weekend as peak moves down from the mountains. Areas east and south of the northern mountains, like around Conway, New Hampshire, Woodstock, Vermont, or North Adams, Massachusetts should finally get into the act for the three day weekend. Barring any large storms, the trees in the mountains shouldn’t have any real impetus for dropping their leaves early either.

To follow the foliage from your computer this week, besides YankeeFoliage.com, be sure to follow our facebook page, and our Mobile App. Some other Facebook pages that I’ve been infatuated with have been:

Yankee Foliage
White Mountains, New Hampshire
Maine Office of Tourism
Visit Vermont
Visit New Hampshire
Visit Massachusetts

And if you do travel, be sure to take some pictures and send in your reports. I’ll see you out there!

The post Mountains of Northern New England Showing Great Color appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Another sure sign of the transition to fall is the morning mist rising off the still warm lakes and wetlands at sunrise. To me, standing on a lake shore on a misty morning, listening to the call of the loons, and watching a canoe emerge from the depths of the obscuration is as much a part autumn as the rich colors lining the lake. Not every morning is conducive for such conditions though, and I’ve found that two factors must be in place for the air to reach the dew point before dawn…clear skies and light winds. Under clear skies, the heat of the day is allowed to radiate out into space, whereas clouds act like a blanket trapping heat. Light winds limit the stirring of the air with warmer air just aloft, and therefore allowing the layer just above the lake to cool.

Tall Pines in the Mist in Kingston, NH

If a clear, cool, calm night is predicted, morning mist is likely.  These conditions occur frequently in autumn, and incorporating morning mist into your fall photographs is a great way to add depth, isolate portions of a scene, and add mood. To catch this compositional component, you might have to get up early, but the trade off is the peace and solitude you find in simple, tranquil scenes.

The Little White Church in Eaton, NH in the Morning Mist - October 2008

This cool snap has also accelerated the color changes in our northern forests. Already now, areas above three thousand feet, and traditionally cool northern valleys are showing hints of the show to come. A few hillside maples now match their siblings in the swamps, and the golds of birches are starting to show on granite outcropping. This past weekend, I took my own advice in the previous blog and hiked high in the New England alpine zone, from which I could see the landscape for miles in every direction. Areas north of the notches are definitely far more advanced in color than those to the south, but that is quite typical in September.  Below is a example of the early color from photographer Luke Barton, from south of Pinkham Notch in New Hampshire on September 18th. 

Peaks of Color in the Southern Notches - Luke Barton Photo

The weekend ahead will be a benchmark for gauging the season’s color, as a few areas in the far northern reaches of New England will be rapidly racing towards peak next week. Unfortunately, weather pattern won’t continue to provide such ideal support,as a fairly stagnant boundary sets up. This will bring a bit of moisture, seasonably warm temperatures and a few scattered showers into the weekend, and the impact may be a slowing of the advancing colors.

The best color this weekend will be largely reserved for some of the higher elevations of the Northeast Kingdom, Dixville Notch, the Zealand Valley and Baxter State Park, which should all have at least moderate color by the weekend. Great drives this weekend might be Rt 5 and 5A around Lake Willoughby in Vermont, Rt. 26 through Dixville Notch in New Hampshire, and The Golden Road from Millinocket, Maine. I wouldn’t expect peak conditions, but color will be moderate with mixed greens and reds. It might actually be even nicer in these areas the following weekend, but you’ll also have far wider options to see color by then.

Zealand Valley in New Hampshire at Peak in Late September 2009

Overall, things are still shaping up very well for the season ahead. The maples look healthy, and are starting to show signs of strong reds. The color is a showing a bit late, but not far from the statistical norm.  There are a few more unhealthy birches than in a typical season, but it’s more common to see the birch’s bark featured in photographs than their foliage, so I wouldn’t be worried. Road access through areas hit hard by Irene continue to improve with temporary and/or permanent fixes…so hopefully you find yourself on the road this weekend! And while you are on the go, enjoying this beautiful season, be sure to report back to us at Yankee Foliage with our foliage mobile app, or on our facebook page! Everyone is excited to see what you find!

The post Far Northern New England Racing Towards Peak appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

The alpine zone is covers an extremely small percentage of the New England landscape. The entirety of the White Mountain National Forest contains only eight square miles, yet contains the largest alpine zones east of the Rockies in the Continental US. To find a similar landscape to the New England alpine zone, you would need to travel a straight line more than 600 miles due north from the Canadian border, to places where caribou roam and permafrost lingers underfoot.

Among the Alpenglow - Blueberry Scrub on Mount Clay at Sunset

The plants in the New England alpine zone are low to the ground, fragile and stunted by the harsh conditions and very short growing season. These areas are essentially arctic islands in the sky, and the plants found there are remnants left from the last ice age. And they are beautiful, especially in autumn when the whole of the tundra turns a variable mosaic of red, orange and brown.

Appalachian Trail View - Hikers Enjoy a Sunset by Lake of the Clouds Hut

Reaching the alpine zone, which typically lies above 4000 feet of elevation, is perceived as a challenge, and indeed, there are some great, fun and challenging trails that take you up Mount Katahdin in Maine, The Presidential Range and Franconia Ridge in New Hampshire, and Camel’s Hump in Vermont. But there are also roads to the top of Mounts Mansfield and Washington, and even a train you can take beyond treeline.  When you arrive, you’ll be struck with the simple and primitive landscape, endless views, and rich tapestry of colors across the ridges. Before hastily exploring though, it is important to be mindful of the incredibly slow rate at which these plants grow, and that a single footstep off the trail or rocks can erase a decade or more of growth.

For more information on the New England alpine zone, you’ll find the websites of these four non-profit organizations particularly helpful:

The Green Mountain Club | The Appalachian Mountain Club | Beyond Ktaadn | The Mount Washington Observatory 

Autumn's First Light - Sunrise From Mount Pierce

As for other foliage in New England right now, outside of the alpine ridges and maple swamps, not much is going on yet. I took a ride through Pinkham Notch this past weekend, and though the colors lacked the lush green of summer, the reds, oranges and yellows remain largely masked. That should change this week though, as a strong cold front will push temperatures near and perhaps briefly below the freezing mark in the far northern valleys by the weekend. This first real cool snap will really accelerate the turning foliage, and just in time, as the far northern areas usually see peak conditions by the last week in September. We’re almost there!

Still Green - The Forest Remained Yet Unchanged This Past Weekend

There is good news on the accessibility front as well. Major sections of roadway are opening by the day after the large washouts shut down access to many areas. On my drive up Route 16 this week, lane shifts worked traffic around remaining washouts. The Kancamagus Highway reopened this week, well ahead of schedule, and crews are working hard to open Route 302 in Crawford Notch. Vermont has seen similar progress with large runs of Vermont 100 ready for travelers set to arrive as the color does next week across the north.

Overall, despite Irene, early foliage predictions are still seeming to hold on track. This still promises to be a fine foliage year, and peak should still be on time if not slightly late across the region. Next week we should see the first widespread color emerge, and we’ll be talking about color for the subsequent six weeks as the peak heads south and towards the coast. Keep and eye out, and be sure to post your reports to Yankeefoliage.com, and on our social media and mobile app. We love to see the color in your neck of the woods!

The post The New England Alpine Zone Features Early Color appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Comprehending of such displays of natural power is now well within our collective grasp. Irene gave us insight into how the land we love, that we admire and that we enjoy has taken shape. And while it has exposed weakness in our landscape and infrastructure, it has shown us the strength of the people who call themselves New Englanders. Communities have been galvanized by this event, and people have come together to help each other clean up and rebuild. Roadwork has proceeded at a furious pace in attempt to limit detours during the tourist season. Traveling to some areas may provide greater challenges than usual this year, but I am confident that New England will be very much open for business this fall, and the show should be as admirable as always!

This past weekend was Labor Day, which marks the unofficial end of summer. Thoughts normally and naturally turn to the harvest, and fears of the first frost edge back into the psyche. Apple orchards are open for picking, and the sounds of marching bands and football fill town centers on weekends. It’s fair season in New England, with livestock shows and fried food in abundance. And it’s this time of year that the early New England autumn color begins to emerge!

The best places to see early color are always swamps, seeps, floodplains and wetlands. This is a niche environment, one that the red maple gladly fills. As a plant community, ‘red maple forested wetlands’ are the most abundant freshwater wetland environs in the northeast, and the wetter they are, the earlier they turn red in the autumn. These habitats can vary in size from sites harboring a single red tree in an otherwise green landscape, to complex systems that cover many acres. You’ll often spot them along roadsides, as the bright color will certainly catch your passing glance. Few of these areas though are generally inviting to explore. Most are muddy and buggy with few trails, but exceptions to the rule offer exceptional viewing along lakes and streams. John Burk, a noted New England landscape and wildlife photographer shared these views on the Yankee Foliage Facebook Page, and certainly exemplify such current opportunities.

Mount Monadnock Above Early Color - Photo Courtesy of John Burk

Swamp Maples Frame Mount Monadnock - Photo Courtesy of John Burk

Looking ahead to the anticipated arrival of more widespread color, we are now under three weeks away from the earliest peak color in New England, which is typically found in the far northern areas of Maine and Vermont. Many of these areas were largely unscathed by Irene and just need the right weather conditions to get the process going. Unfortunately, in the short term, the weather will be more influenced by the tropics than the cool, dry Canadian air that we like to see to start the season right. Rain showers will be the norm until we can push all of the moisture and remnants of Lee out of the region. Thereafter, a good sharp cold front dominates the long range forecasts. We’ll see how that plays out next week, as more early color begins to emerge!

The post New England Autumn Color Begins To Emerge! appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Before the storm late last week, I spent some time researching how tropical systems in New England have had an effect on autumn colors in past years. Heavy rainfall this time of year doesn’t do the colors any favors, but it wouldn’t be a season killer. Winds would remove some leaves and branches, but this early in the season, most would hold strong. The setup to this year’s foliage season was otherwise quite ideal, and overall, it seemed that in spite of the imposing storm, the season was to be saved. And then the rains began.

Satellite View of Tropical Storm Irene as it Enters New England

By now you no doubt know that historic rainfall fell in an arc from the western mountains of Maine, through the heart of the White Mountains, into Central and Southern Vermont, and down to the Berkshires. Pulled by gravity, small streams turned into torrents of water which overflowed their banks and rearranged everything once along them. The sound was unimaginable, resonant and full. Boulders rearranging themselves on the river-bottom provided bass, the current the mid-tones, and percussive sounds interjected as trees snapped and debris crashed. The power of the water was was indescribable. Rivers rerouted through roads, topping then toppling bridges, and carrying away houses. And now the aftermath is unbelievable.

The landscape of New England, even the land itself is now changed, and we are reminded of our vulnerability. Towns are isolated, roads and bridges are gone. The crops whose harvest we celebrate, the livelihood of the farmers, have been destroyed. New England has lost a yet uncounted number of covered bridges, which have stood for decades and centuries against countless floods and ice flows. History has been erased in an instant, washed away by raging waters, and honestly, raging doesn’t even seem characterize the conditions near every waterway this past weekend.

I believe these videos demonstrate what I’m trying to characterize and describe above. A quick search on Youtube or Twitter would most certainly allow you to check in on your favorite foliage spot:

Jackson, New Hampshire During Tropical Storm Irene

Quechee Covered Bridge During Tropical Storm Irene

Quechee Bridge Barely Survives As The Water Recedes

At this point, it’s hard to say how long the recovery will take. Major roads like the Kancamagus Highway, Routes 302 and 16 in New Hampshire, Rt. 27 in Maine and portions of Rt. 100 in Vermont remained closed due to large washouts, and may be closed for some time. Every road through a notch in Maine and New Hampshire has seen damage. There is no way in or out of Waterville Valley in New Hampshire or Pittsfield in Vermont, and the same can be true of countless neighborhoods and villages.

And so, the changing seasons and colorful leaves matter little in the famed foliage areas of Northern New England today. I’ve connected with friends and family, who have shared their stories and, regardless of how little or how much they’ve lost, they all believe it could have been worse. I know I was very lucky; my cleanup was limited to sweeping my deck, but I am left with an empty feeling stemming from empathy and perhaps from lack of shared burden.

In a few more days, we’ll all have a better idea of a time-line for a return to new-normal. We know that there is a significant buffer of time before the start of the New England foliage season, and the weather this week couldn’t be better for drying out and beginning the recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. The leaf canopy really didn’t fare to badly in the storm, and it should still shape up to be a good season. And New England needs the season to be strong; the economy needs it, and the human spirit needs it. Hang in there…

Check back each week for more 2011 foliage forecasts.

The post New England Foliage in the Aftermath of Hurricane Irene appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

This past weekend I drove around the northern White Mountains, and found the occasional tree in full autumn display. Like a cool August night, this is not unusual. A few trees are bound to show some signs of stress even in the best of years, and begin to change early. Most often, these trees are on roadsides, ledges, in poor soil, or have been under siege by insects. The production of bright red pigments is a way to protect the leaf and extend the season a bit. Swamp maples are also notorious for this early color right as school is starting back, and local wetlands are great places to do your first peeping.

Lone Tree Turning - One Single Spot of Orange in the Landscape

While early foliage color remains sparse, and will for a few more weeks, flowers provide the best opportunities for widespread color in New England this time of year. The yellows of goldenrod will soon begin to fade as the blues and purples of asters come on strong. A visit to a sunny stream bank will often yield copious cardinal flowers, a blazing red flower with stronger pigment than the most intense autumn maple. And gardens and porches will soon be replanted with some hardy mums for autumn!

Cardinal Flowers Are Commonly Found on Sunny Stream Sides

Cool nights and reports of early leaves also have people rushing to solidify their autumn plans. Many people plan their trips on nostalgia, visiting and revisiting places that are important to family, or that stir strong memories. Others are taking a once in a lifetime trip to view the leaves, and in between the two extremes are people looking for a combination of adventure and beauty. Wherever you fall on this continuum, everyone relies on foliage data to plan, and in the digital age, there are many opportunities to gather data for planning a New England foliage trip.

I hope that a first stop for any foliage enthusiast is Yankee Foliage. You’ll find great information on peak times, made possible by spotters and foliage enthusiasts like you. It’s easy to participate by contributing your reports, either on the website, or through the new Foliage App for iPhone or Android. The site also great travel recommendations for those looking for a new place to go, and an active community both in the forums and on their Facebook page. If you are planning a trip, you’ll find plenty of people more than willing to help there!

I’ve become pretty adept at taking digital foliage scouting to a few deeper levels too. Previewing an autumn drive in Google Earth is a good start, and turning on the ‘photos layer’ in Google Maps can really provide insight on specific locations to visit.

Turning on the "Photos Layer" on Google Maps Helps in Trip Planning

Searching for a town or attraction on photo sites like Flickr can also highlight opportunities, especially with so many photos geo-tagged. And one of the most reliable resources for gauging current color are the many webcams that dot the region. Thorough planning before I leave makes for a much more enjoyable experience when among the leaves!

I hope you find some of these online tools useful, and that you enjoy the process of planning and seeing all that the region has to offer this fall. We’ll see you soon!

The post Planning A New England Foliage Trip Online appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

We can never be truly sure what each autumn season will look like until it gets here, and as such, predictions about peak color are hard to put together. The root of the problem lies with the lack of truly measurable data. In our diverse New England forests, color exists along a continuum, and peak is hard to pinpoint. Quality of autumn color is also extremely subjective. There is reasonable consensus though on what will bring out the best fall colors. According to the US Forest Service, ample spring rainfall, and a moderately dry summer with normally warm temperatures will set the stage for healthy trees going into autumn. Thereafter, you have to hope for warm sunny days and cool, but not freezing nights to make the colors really pop. So where do we stand this year?

If the stated indicators above truly bring about the best foliage, then thus far, we’ve had a pretty ideal setup for a dramatic color year in 2011. Ample rainfall doesn’t begin to describe the amount of precipitation this past spring. In northern New England, it rained on average every other day through the early part of the season. Burlington, Vermont had both its wettest April and May on record. With all the rain, spring arrived a bit late, as forest flowers and apple blossoms were running up to three weeks behind last year across the region.

Abundant Rainfall - Map Showing Departure From Normal Precipitation During April

The start of summer brought a significant drying trend across New England, and perhaps if the spring rains weren’t so incessant, we’d be talking about mild drought now. We’ve fortunately gotten well timed rainfall when things started to dry out though, and while my lawn has a few patches of brown, the trees are generally healthy and showing few signs of stress.  All this follows the formula for an intense autumn show.

There is also reason to believe that the pieces will keep falling into place this autumn. Fall foliage responds to a number of short term environmental factors as autumn approaches, none more important than the slow steady onset of cool weather. The dream setup of cool nights and warm, dry sunny days could become a reality if the outlooks from the long-range climate prognosticators come to fruition. The forecast for September is for temperatures to continue above normal, but trending towards seasonable and normal during the heart of the foliage season. Predictions also call for near normal rainfall. This all sounds terrific now, and while the stars may indeed align, there’s time to fine tune this yet!

A Crisp Autumn Morning in New England - Perfect for Bringing Out Color!

To make an early official call on the fall foliage forecast for New England in 2011, I’d expect a very strong display of yellows and bright oranges, with fair reds and limited browns. I believe that peak itself may be a bit late this year, but strong color should be around during the traditional peak times, as the conditions seem right for to set up a prolonged foliage season. Honestly, I’m quite excited about what could be a great show!

As Yankee’s new foliage forecaster and blogger, I’ll be posting each Wednesday to check in with regional conditions preview the upcoming weekend’s weather and color. I’ll offer tips for viewing and capturing your experiences, and share some of my favorite locations. I’m very much looking forward to sharing in the season ahead here with Yankee Magazine, and hope you follow along with me!

Check back each week for more 2011 foliage forecasts.

The post First New England Fall Foliage Forecast appeared first on Yankee Magazine.

Jim Salge the new Yankee foliage blogger

Jim Salge is a nature photographer based in Southern New Hampshire, who uses his background in the sciences to inspire his art. A former meteorologist at the Mount Washington Observatory, he is a keen observer of the progression of the seasons in New England. He uses his knowledge of weather, geography and climate to pinpoint the best time to visit a location for the best light, atmosphere, and most importantly, color.

Jim has a deep routed appreciation for the nature and the wilderness, which has manifested itself into numerous outdoor pursuits. He spends his free time exploring the New England landscape, often beginning before dawn, and staying out after sunset, immersing himself in the ecology of the natural environment. He has long enjoyed hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking and cross country skiing, but now plans these activities to compliment his photography.

Jim now joins Yankee Magazine as the foliage forecaster and blogger, and looks to share his experiences, knowledge, locations and routes this season.

The post New Foliage Forecaster and Blogger appeared first on Yankee Magazine.