Foliage season is an especially fun time in the Noyes household. If you were a fly on the wall during our car rides you’d get to enjoy some free entertainment: Matt and I bantering about whether or not specific areas and trees are peak, moderate or low in color.
Foliage season is certainly subjective in many ways, but I think we can all agree that some truly magnificent color has been displayed in parts of New England so far. There have been enough chilly mornings and sunny afternoons to really allow the colors, particularly in northern New England, to pop. Peak conditions have now been reached in the far North Country: the Great North Woods of New Hampshire, the northern Green Mountains of Vermont, and higher elevations in far northern Maine.
Moderate color extends through much of central New England into the hilly terrain of southern New England, especially the Route 2 stretch, the Berkshires and Litchfield Hills. With the coldest air of the season thus far for many of us forecast to come in Saturday night, that will help expand the color in many areas and kickstart it in southern New England. It’s been tougher to predict the foliage turning in southern New England as a result of the severe drought. I’ve noticed that some trees are bare already, some are totally green still, and yet sporadic pockets of peak are mixed in between.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
The weather is cooperating for great viewing conditions across the region this weekend. Highs will be noticeably cooler tomorrow, only in the 50s, with ample sunshine. Saturday night gets cold with scattered frost, but we make a nice rebound into the 50s and 60s on Sunday. I do anticipate a few passing rain showers in far northern New England Sunday. That’s a weakening cold front that will sag southward and stall over central New England for Columbus Day. The result will be some clouds mixing with our sunshine and perhaps a few sprinkles/isolated showers.
