The time is now for those looking for beautiful fall foliage.
Trees in western Massachusetts will hit their peak this week. Although the summer drought has had an impact on foliage, experts say rich red, green and yellow leaves are coloring the landscape.
Jeff “Foliage” Folger, who runs a blog called Fall Foliage of New England, said Saturday though the foliage may be harder than usual to find, it is out there.
“People are going to have to do some driving around. Go out by the Quabbin. Hit the back roads. If they look, I think they’re going to find good color,” Folger said. “For the average person out there in Massachusetts, even in Connecticut and Rhode Island, it’s going to be a mixed bag. It won’t be perfect, but it will be nice.”
Folger travels New England looking for colorful fall foliage to photograph. He was the first foliage blogger for Yankee Magazine, starting in 2006. In 2011, he started his own blog and continued to document the changing of the seasons.
Across the Northeast, Folger said, leaves have been quick to fall due to the region’s drought.
“The drought definitely has an effect. The biggest problem that we have with it is that the leaves drop faster,” Folger said. “We’re getting a lot of leaf drop. For the average leaf-peeper, it’s not too bad, but it’s a little more noticeable, especially around the lakes region.”
But it is not all bad. Because there has been less rain, the leaves have a higher concentration of sugar. This has led to more bright red leaves on maple trees, Folger said.
“The drought concentrates a lot of sugar in maples. That gives us really, really bright red maples,” Folger said.
Dave Kittredge, a professor in the department of environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, agreed the drought has contributed to more red leaves this year.
“The main pigment in leaves is green and that’s called chlorophyll. At the end of growing season, the green breaks down and reveals other things that are in the leaves, and that’s the color we see,” Kittredge said. “One of those colors is attributed to sugars in the leaves — I think that has more to do with the deep reds.”
According to Kittredge, it is likely the foliage was hampered by the drought, though there is no quantitative way to measure the impact.
“There’s no way to measure how colorful the foliage is, at least not for us mere mortals,” Kittredge said. “But I’d say we ought to be in the sweet spot of peak foliage.”
According to Kittredge, the ideal foliage conditions would be average rainfall in the area, which is about 40 inches a year. Above-average rainfall creates an ideal environment for leaf fungus and wilting leaves, he said.
Traditionally, peak foliage season is considered to be Columbus Day weekend. But after a dry summer and above-average temperatures in September, foliage blogger Marek Rzonca says Massachusetts is a little behind.
“This week we’re going back into the upper 70s and that’s good for prolonging the foliage season,” Rzonca said.
The Berkshires are approaching their peak, according to Rzonca, who lives in Ballston Lake, New York. The foliage in New Hampshire and Vermont near the Kancamagus Highway is just past peak season, he said.
“If it’s not at peak (in the Berkshires), then it’s pretty close,” Rzonca said. “At the highest elevations, it may be just past peak.”
Rzonca has been running his blog, Fall Foliage Report, for 18 years. He said he relies on several hundred volunteer spotters who report to him a few times a week about foliage conditions in 16 states across the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Northwest regions of the country. He compiles the information into a foliage report on his blog.
Folger agreed the foliage is at its peak this week. As the season continues, the green leaves will fade, yielding yellow and orange leaves, he said.
“Now, it’s pretty much fading. You’re going to see darker oranges, burnt sienna and things like that,” Folger said.