Autumn Color Lingers Along The New England Coast

Over the course of an otherwise bright and beautiful day Sunday this past weekend, a gusty northwest breeze slowly stripped my neighbor’s beautiful flame-orange maple down to its winter skeleton. It was the brightest I had seen this particular tree in years, but its maximum glow lasted only a few short days. It is how the whole foliage show has seemingly gone this year in New England, amazingly intense, but incredibly fleeting beauty. Vibrant fall color could be found all over southern New England this past weekend, with strong color holding on in pockets throughout the entire region. Increasing energy in the weather patterns over this past week has already found many areas in Northern New England nearly bare though, and the fall cleanup has begun. Worse news though, a strong, prolonged coastal storm this week will leave many more in line for their final raking of the season.

For those planning on leaf peeping this coming weekend, there will likely still be color to be found, but predicting how much will depend entirely on the intensity and duration of our midweek storm. In northern New England, lingering good color will likely only be found along the immediate coast of Maine and New Hampshire. Maples were peaking this past weekend, while the oaks were only just turning, and we’re confident some color from both species will make it through the storm. Further inland, the majority of maples are fading or down already, but the oaks are still turning all the way to the foot of the mountains. Their deep, rich rust and red-brown tones will likely linger this weekend as well, offering some lasting color.

Traveling farther inland, the canopy in the mountains and north country has become largely bare over the past week, and snow and ice are even covering many of the highest peaks. The leaves of young beech are holding on along the lower slopes, and the tamaracks, our deciduous conifers are turning in the lower wetlands, but otherwise, the only color left will be in the winterberry and mountain ash fruit.

Southern New England will offer greater opportunities for brighter colors, but even there, much of western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut will be past peak, with the Berkshires trending towards bare.  Areas around Boston, the South Shore, as well as the Cape and Islands were still coming into color last weekend though, and with so many beautiful and historic areas to visit in that area, a short weekend trip could be exceptional this weekend.

The same could be said for the coasts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, where color will hold on the longest this year in areas shielded from the wind and storms. Mystic and Newport get a lot of tourism and attention, but there are many, many other quiet and beautiful places to see and stop along the Long Island Sound, and our foliage drives page on YankeeFoliage.com has some great suggestions. In summary, we’re nearing the end of our beautiful, brief foliage season this year, but the weather looks to improve this weekend, and there will be autumn color to be found. For updates after the storm, we encourage readers to follow our live foliage map, and download our interactive foliage app. It will also be incredibly helpful if foliage fans all over New England post updates through the app after the storm, to allow the most up to date information for fellow leaf peepers. Not much time left, make the most of it…and we’ll see you out there!