Fall Foliage Report 20 Sept 2024, Early Color?
Greetings leaf peepers far and wide!
My photographer friends have been posting pictures from around Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine which combined with my webcam views of New England gives me a pretty good idea of what is going on.
Lisa and I drove up to Vermont on the 14/15th and just yesterday we drove an exhausting 460 miles (round trip) up through Western Maine (Evan’s Notch, Screw Auger Falls) and then into Errol and Dixville Notch to head home on Route 3 to Route 93. ONLY when we got to Dixville Notch did I feel we saw “Moderate” color. More on this below…
What has been seen in the past few days…
Lisa and I drove up to Saint Albans Vermont and back to Salem (630 miles) over last weekend (14/15th). and for the MOST PART, What we saw was a lot of roadside color. But at higher elevations, some trees are getting some color already. But before you change your reservations see below, because early color does NOT mean early peak. It means the trees are shifting from solid green to a yellowish tint or a darker red…
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New Hampshire
Jeff Folger
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(14/15 September) We came up through Franconia Notch and while the west-facing hillsides were showing 15-30% of the trees had started to turn, there was not a lot of bright color. Even the roadside color needs a bit more cooking (cool to cold temps) to brighten the colors.
Then we crossed over from Vermont at Groveton and ALL the way down Route 3 it was just a little here or there showing turned trees and there are some very bright trees that were stress-turning. But no area along Route 3 is ready for a drive as of yet. Maybe by the 25th but I’m leaning toward the 25th to the 1st of October for the best colors in the northern White Mtns.
On 19 September, Lisa and I went out again driving 460 miles roundtrip, and nowhere in New Hampshire did I find a bright fully colored hillside. But when we got to Dixville Notch I did stop and launch my drone because the hills above the hotel were the best so far at “Moderate” color. I would say 75-80% have started to turn and they are 30-50% toward being fully turned
This amount of color is about 4-7 days early when compared to other years that were on the early side. Normally Dixville is like this between 25-29 September in an average year. It was a pretty day and while the color is very nice, I expect the fall colors to get even better over the next 7-10 days. But rain and clouds are in the forecast… So we will see what we have on the 1st of October. You can Find Jeff on Facebook at New England Fall Foliage and on Instagram by clicking here.
Chris Whiton
Chris’s Website is White Mount Images. and this week he shared some images that he shot on 19 September, in and around the White Mountains. He drove the Kancamagus (Route 112) and Route 302 (Crawford Notch)
Chris says “Mostly green on the interior of Franconia Notch – colors about 50% just north of the [Franconia] notch”. and on the Kanc “Mostly green over on the Conway side“. We still have a ways to go as far as seeing meaningful fall colors. You can find Chris Whiton on Facebook at White Mountain Images. Follow him on Instagram by clicking here.
Vermont
John Rowe
Visit John Rowe’s Photography to view more of his work. John Submitted images of Newark Pond and Bald Pond on the 17th of September and they are getting close to 40% but this is hard to call because drone shots look better because they focus on the crowns of trees which turn first.
Photographer and Drone pilot, John Rowe has been a contributor here for several years and you can find more of his work in his gallery. You can find John on Facebook here. You can follow him on Instagram by Clicking here.
Well like I said above Lisa and I crossed into Vermont on the 14th at St. Johnsbury crossing the state to Montpelier. We stopped at Marshfield VT at the Martin Covered Bridge. The reason I stopped is that there are 6 red (stripped) maples around the front of the bridge and I had to stop and get a few pictures. A couple of the trees were red but the other four were a mixture of red and green.
We continued our drive to St. Albans. On the 15th we headed home through Richford to Jay Peak on Route 105, we only saw decent color (not good) but a fair amount of roadside color heading to Jay Peak in north Troy Vermont. Route 105 is a wonderful drive with a smooth blacktop that winds through the Vermont countryside.
Due to elevation, Jay Peak had the greatest amount of color showing and it appears Red will be the most evident color this year. As we came down in elevation we saw fewer colors than on Jay. This would be the same all the way to the New Hampshire border. Single roadside trees show promise but a promise that we have yet to collect on.
Maine
Images by Jeff “Foliage” Folger.
I apologize that I didn’t get up to Rangeley but it was a long day of driving on the 19th for Lisa and me. (I’m also not as young as I used to be). As it was 460 miles translates to 10 hours of driving and something had to give so we drove through Fryeburg and took Route 113 north. This took us through Evan’s Notch. I didn’t stop until the Notch viewing spot because at no time did we see any good color. In fact I hate to say this but I was driving through a lot of dead brown leaves on the road. But the Notch still looked nice, if not very green so far.
After Leaving the Notch we cut up Route 26 which took us up through Grafton Notch State Park and Screw Auger Falls. We again found limited colors so we pressed on to Errol and stopped at L.L. Cote for gas and some snacks. Today’s trip took a tank and a half of gas and gas was $3.03 in Salem and $3.29 up in Errol. Visit Jeff’s gallery to view his work for sale.
For the New Hampshire part, look above in my write-up there.
Jeff’s Take on This week in the fall colors.
This season started out with great promise but as I tell you every year… Every year is different and the ACTUAL weather will determine what the fall colors are going to do. We all thought based on the spring and summer that this “Could” be a season, unlike many others with beautiful bright colors that stayed on the trees much longer than normal.
I just didn’t I was going to be so right and it would be so unlike others with almost 30 days with little to no rain across New England…
So, the long-range forecast shows that the next 7-10 days are going to be cloudy with low chances of rain during Tuesday-Friday. (It depends on where you look) But for the most part, the following weekend is looking partly cloudy to sunny in many parts of New England (again it depends on where you look). Temps across northern Vermont are lows in the low 50s and that means slower change in that area.
But in Northern New Hampshire from Bethlehem north to Pittsburg, the temps are in the 40s and a couple of the nights are forecasted to be 41-43F. This “could” signal a faster change but it will depend on the weather we receive in this area. Cloudy days and light rain in the forecast are not looking good… But as I’ve said before… Time will tell.
Over in Maine, across the board, Stratton/Eustis, Augusta, Millinocket, and Bangor are all showing lows in the 50s over the next 10 days so slow going there as well.
My Final Word of Advice…
Do Not Change your reservations based on what you are seeing out on Social Media. People are posting single bright red and orange trees and they are correct there are these single spots of color and some of the hills we passed by yesterday (19th Sept) did look close to bursting with colors but until we get the lower temps, they will be slow to change…
Remember where I said “Slow-Burn” (fall colors slow to develop) well this is still holding For much of New England. Northern New Hampshire is likely to see a greater amount of change from the Kancamagus north to the border of Canada. NOW, let’s see what Mother Nature gives us in reality and see what happens. If you want my sure and accurate forecast, check back with me in November, and THEN! I will know for sure.
Jeff Foliage Folger
Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage
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