Fall Foliage 2017

[backedgeapproaching]

Still really green west of the Greens spine here. Pic is from yesterday. I haven't been up to the 2k range east of the spine yet, probably were a few pockets that turned early and maybe browned some, but not as bad as up in NVT i wouldn't think.

 

 

[tamarack]

On ‎9‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 11:45 AM, eyewall said:

Is anyone knowledgeable on how long peak lasts in a given location? I was thinking of going to Heart Lake and Mt. Jo outside of Lake Placid on Friday. They are reporting 85% change there and nearing peak in spots. Will Fri be too late?

Real peak - maybe a week.  However, from majority colored to past peak can be twice that long.  And then there are autumns like 2005 - the year of no reds (except for "Old Dependable", a red maple street tree on Sand Hill in Augusta.)  That fall everything was a week or so late, then we went from perhaps 25% color to 80% leaf drop in 48 hours, as Oct. 8-9 brought 5.7" RA with howling wind.

Wow you aren't kidding. Strange. On an unrelated note, we've had a terrible fungus attacking maples...especially Norwegian here. Just turning brown and dropping leaves. This is the most terrible I've seen trees look in all my life.

Tar spot.  In Maine it's the worst year ever for that fungus, and here it's almost exclusively on Norway maple.  Go fungus, go!!  (As long as it sticks to the invader.) 

[eyewall]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Real peak - maybe a week.  However, from majority colored to past peak can be twice that long.  And then there are autumns like 2005 - the year of no reds (except for "Old Dependable", a red maple street tree on Sand Hill in Augusta.)  That fall everything was a week or so late, then we went from perhaps 25% color to 80% leaf drop in 48 hours, as Oct. 8-9 brought 5.7" RA with howling wind.

Wow you aren't kidding. Strange. On an unrelated note, we've had a terrible fungus attacking maples...especially Norwegian here. Just turning brown and dropping leaves. This is the most terrible I've seen trees look in all my life.

Tar spot.  In Maine it's the worst year ever for that fungus, and here it's almost exclusively on Norway maple.  Go fungus, go!!  (As long as it sticks to the invader.) 

Thank you. I keep telling myself just 2 more days of heat and then it will feel like fall. The question is can the foliage season still be saved in VT?

[Sugarloaf1989]

59 minutes ago, eyewall said:

Thank you. I keep telling myself just 2 more days of heat and then it will feel like fall. The question is can the foliage season still be saved in VT?

Yes, especially the lower elevations and the Oak tree areas in S. Vermont. It's a later and different kind of foliage color.

[tamarack]

47 minutes ago, Sugarloaf1989 said:

Yes, especially the lower elevations and the Oak tree areas in S. Vermont. It's a later and different kind of foliage color.

The double peak is cool.  We had it in N. Maine, though it was the aspens that provided Act II.  (Almost no oak up there.)

[eyewall]

These are facebook sourced so quality isn't 100% but you can see the rust in the higher terrain but that there is still hope below. I took these tonight (9/25):

[CoastalWx]

On September 25, 2017 at 1:14 PM, tamarack said:

Real peak - maybe a week.  However, from majority colored to past peak can be twice that long.  And then there are autumns like 2005 - the year of no reds (except for "Old Dependable", a red maple street tree on Sand Hill in Augusta.)  That fall everything was a week or so late, then we went from perhaps 25% color to 80% leaf drop in 48 hours, as Oct. 8-9 brought 5.7" RA with howling wind.

Wow you aren't kidding. Strange. On an unrelated note, we've had a terrible fungus attacking maples...especially Norwegian here. Just turning brown and dropping leaves. This is the most terrible I've seen trees look in all my life.

Tar spot.  In Maine it's the worst year ever for that fungus, and here it's almost exclusively on Norway maple.  Go fungus, go!!  (As long as it sticks to the invader.) 

It is mostly Norwegian maple too. I agree.....go away invader. However it looks just absolutely horrific.

[Damage In Tolland]

We rust brown this year

[alex]

This is the state of our hood (actually, that's the spot where we will be building my new house on my land, 1 of 5 that we've been working on - the rest will be rentals). Most of the surrounding trees are red spruce and birch, not very interesting, but you can start seeing some decent colors. Lots of leaves on the ground already, though. 

[eyewall]

Browning out with leaf drop here in the BTV area in some spots now.

[MountainMet]

This is going to be a weird season. If the reports from northern VT are to be believed, they are near peak if not passing. Here in the Merrimack Valley we got off to an early start, but there is almost none left. Some trees are just going brown and dropping a bunch of leaves. Practically no color and only a few days from October. Either everything is going to pop-off dramatically after this weekend, or this year is for naught.

[eyewall]

This is not my video but one a friend took with his drone in the normally iconic Groton State Forest in VT. You can see it looks dull at best and a lot of leaves have already dropped:

 

[OceanStWx]

1 minute ago, eyewall said:

This is not my video but one a friend took with his drone in the normally iconic Groton State Forest in VT. You can see it looks dull at best and a lot of leaves have already dropped:

Wind today will probably accelerate that leaf drop too.

[eyewall]

6 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

Wind today will probably accelerate that leaf drop too.

Yeah most likely. This will be about finding bright pockets as opposed to widespread vistas.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, eyewall said:

Yeah most likely. This will be about finding bright pockets as opposed to widespread vistas.

You may be right.  We've not had the browning here, except near the house where the reds never appear anyway, while the overall change is on "pause."  However, the swamp maples on a pond edge near town are just as bright as when they first colored 3+ weeks ago - 2/3 leaf drop but what's left is still that nice red/burgundy.

[wxeyeNH]

It will be interesting to see what happens this year.  Last year we had the epic drought yet I had a fantastic peak.  Didn't occur until Oct 18th.  Lots of dead leaves coming down today but almost everything is still green.  One thing seems certain.  Columbus Day is early this year and its been hot.  All the leaf peepers coming up from SNE next weekend are not going to see peak.  Everything seems well behind.  We will now have some cool nights but then another above normal week, next week.

In my opinion one of the overlooked things that makes a good peak is rain/wind conditions on peak week.  Last year we had an extended time of light winds and no rain.  So all the tree species were able to turn and retain leaves.  If we have wind every day or rain then leaves keep falling everyday as each individual tree peaks.

Will be interesting to see what happens the next couple of weeks...

[powderfreak]

22 hours ago, wxeyeNH said:

It will be interesting to see what happens this year.  Last year we had the epic drought yet I had a fantastic peak.  Didn't occur until Oct 18th.  Lots of dead leaves coming down today but almost everything is still green.  One thing seems certain.  Columbus Day is early this year and its been hot.  All the leaf peepers coming up from SNE next weekend are not going to see peak.  Everything seems well behind.  We will now have some cool nights but then another above normal week, next week.

In my opinion one of the overlooked things that makes a good peak is rain/wind conditions on peak week.  Last year we had an extended time of light winds and no rain.  So all the tree species were able to turn and retain leaves.  If we have wind every day or rain then leaves keep falling everyday as each individual tree peaks.

Will be interesting to see what happens the next couple of weeks...

In Stowe, Columbus Day Weekend is always a let down for the tourists...almost always past peak by that time in the hills with some color only left in the village.

People are disappointed yearly haha.  

Funny thing is the tourists from down south and Europe always take the same trip.  They go Bar Harbor, to Jackson/Conway (though a bunch will also go to Bretton Woods and the MWN hotel there), to Stowe, to Woodstock (VT) to Lee or Great Barrington in the Berkshires, then to Cape Cod (they love Cape Cod), then back to BOS to fly home.  If I had a dollar for everyone that visited Stowe saying those are the other towns they stopped in, I'd be a rich man.  

Usually they find the best color on Columbus Day Weekend in the Berkshires and Bar Harbor...complaining the Whites and Greens were done already.

[powderfreak]

This was in Stowe Village last week...the hope is the green stuff left still goes vibrant.  

Otherwise the current mix was bare trees (all the smaller stuff in town lining the streets is in full bare mode), brown and green as you can see in this photo.  Some years these trees are all like neon red lining the streets, classic New England style.  This year bare/brown/green.

Maybe a below normal summer isn't good for foliage?  It was -2 to -3 at MVL/MPV/1V4 for JJA mean...coldest departures of all of New England and maybe most lackluster foliage?

I truly think we were heading towards an awesome foliage season on Labor Day Weekend.  It was getting stunning by then, I remember Nzucker saying it looked like peak was going to be mid-September from the photos...then it got hot.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

This was in Stowe Village last week...the hope is the green stuff left still goes vibrant.  

Otherwise the current mix was bare trees (all the smaller stuff in town lining the streets is in full bare mode), brown and green as you can see in this photo.  Some years these trees are all like neon red lining the streets, classic New England style.  This year bare/brown/green.

 

Maybe a below normal summer isn't good for foliage?  It was -2 to -3 at MVL/MPV/1V4 for JJA mean...coldest departures of all of New England and maybe most lackluster foliage?

I truly think we were heading towards an awesome foliage season on Labor Day Weekend.  It was getting stunning by then, I remember Nzucker saying it looked like peak was going to be mid-September from the photos...then it got hot.

I think it was the above normal stretch that did it.  I was at Jay Peak 2 weeks ago and the color was starting to ramp up and then the temps did too, culminating with the 4 stretch of record warmth.  That also seems to coincide with the dulling of the leaves.

[eyewall]

I think it was the above normal stretch that did it.  I was at Jay Peak 2 weeks ago and the color was starting to ramp up and then the temps did too, culminating with the 4 stretch of record warmth.  That also seems to coincide with the dulling of the leaves.

I agree the heatwave did it in.



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[eyewall]

The sun angle is enhancing the vibrance some but it was a beautiful morning in the Adirondacks! I hiked up Mt. Jo:

[eyewall]

A drone flight later in the ADK's:

[Juliancolton]

56 minutes ago, eyewall said:

The sun angle is enhancing the vibrance some but it was a beautiful morning in the Adirondacks! I hiked up Mt. Jo:

Ahh, that's an awesome shot with the clouds and warm lighting. I think Mt. Jo has some of the most photogenic views in the ADKs even though it's such a short peak.

[WxBlue]

Okay, being new-ish to the region, I could use suggestions for a fall foliage photography hike this Sunday. I'm willing to drive up to 3 hours away from Dover so VT/NH/ME is in play. Any ideas?

[eyewall]

Ahh, that's an awesome shot with the clouds and warm lighting. I think Mt. Jo has some of the most photogenic views in the ADKs even though it's such a short peak.

It is an amazing view for sure!

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[eyewall]

Here are some more shots from my ADK foliage adventure. There are diamonds in the rough even in a tough season (facebook sourced which hurts resolution to some degree):
 

[qg_omega]

1 hour ago, eyewall said:

Here are some more shots from my ADK foliage adventure. There are diamonds in the rough even in a tough season (facebook sourced which hurts resolution to some degree):
 

Your photography skills are amazing, whiteface this morning.  They claimed snow but im not sure it wasn't just frost?

 

[SchrnLker]

8 minutes ago, qg_omega said:

Your photography skills are amazing, whiteface this morning.  They claimed snow but im not sure it wasn't just frost?

 

No it's snow!  From Adirondack Mountain Club Fb page this morning, Cascade Mt.

[eyewall]

50 minutes ago, qg_omega said:

Your photography skills are amazing, whiteface this morning.  They claimed snow but im not sure it wasn't just frost?

 

Thank you and it does appear to be snow!

[WxBlue]

I finally went north to Crawford Notch State Park for first fall photography session in hope of getting snow-tipped Whites to north of it. Impressive area!

Snow melted too quickly for the shot I wanted, but I had a blast hiking Mt. Willard trail and exploring otherwise. Still a little early for colors inside the pass (about 10-30% changeover), but colors were fairly muted/brown in higher elevation regions surrounding Mt. Washington (where it's about 40-70% changeover). However, I did see pockets of decent colors in lower elevation areas so maybe there's some hope for later in the foliage season?