2007 Foliage Season Begins!

The week after Labor Day officially begins the New England foliage season, bringing to an end summer. Foliage begins to color around mid September, peaking in mid October across much of the region. Forecast for this upcoming season, up in the air. A dry end to summer is never a good sign for foliage, though, and without some significant rainfall in the coming weeks foliage may suffer. Here is the latest foliage report from The Foliage Network:

September 8 , 2007

Welcome to the 2007 foliage season! Labor Day has passed, marking the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of our coverage of the fall foliage. This is The Foliage Network's ninth year covering the foliage in the Northeast.

The summer temperatures in the Northeast U.S. have been, on average, close to normal with departures from normal ranging from -2F to +2F. In portions of southern Vermont, western New York, northwest Pennsylvania, southeast Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, it was slight warmer, with departures from normal in the +2F to +4F.

Analysis of three month (June-August) precipitation in the Northeast is also very close to normal, on average. A few areas of note include the Adirondacks in northern New York where the 3-month period was exceptionally dry (2.00" of precipitation or more below normal); moderately dry (0.80" to 1.29" of precipitation below normal) conditions in central Maine, southeast Vermont, western New York, central Massachusetts and portions of central Pennsylvania. In contrast, it was moderate moist (0.80" to 1.29" of precipitation above normal) in coastal Maine, northeast Vermont, southwest Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and Long Island, New York. Also of interest is the month of August, in which much of the Northeast was very dry. Let's hope we get some rain in September.

There is not much yet to report, as expected, at this early date in September. However, there have been reports of the typical early color in some young and distressed trees and in some of the "show-offs" which are those trees that change earlier than others on an annual basis. This is no cause for alarm and is not an indicator of early change. There have also been reports of many leaves turning brown and falling from walnut and poplar trees. Again, no cause for alarm as these species are not widespread in the Northeast.

This information provided by Marek D. Rzonca, The Foliage Network. For more information, especially regarding other regions, please visit The Foliage Network Website.