WINCHENDON, Mass. — While it’s been slow for fall foliage in Southern New England to reach its peak color this season, there are still plenty of places west and north of Boston where beautiful sights await those looking to head out on a leaf-peeping trek this weekend.
For this week’s edition of Field Trip Friday, Boston 25 Meteorologist Tucker Antico drove out to the Worcester County towns of Winchendon and Westminster, where shades of orange and red are showing on a sparse amount of trees.
“The leaves are just not managing to change color, and when they do, they’ve either been knocked off or seen a lot of browning,” Antico said.
Jim Salge, Yankee Magazine’s fall foliage expert, told Boston 25 that “it’s not a good year” so far for leaf peeping due to factors like temperature and above-normal rainfall totals, but there’s still hope.
“This is what we would call a muted or down year,” Salge said. “We have a lot of water stress. The roots have been waterlogged and that can cause less oxygen going up to the tree. We have less sugar in the leaves and that can cause the fall foliage to be muted. It’s also led to a lot of fungus in our landscape and that’s causing a lot of our sugar maples to brown, spot, and fall early this year.”
If you’re looking to leaf peep in Massachusetts this weekend, a drive out to the Berkshires is your best bet, according to Salge.
“The Berkshires are still coming in. They lost a lot of their earlier colors, so it’s kind of a mixed forest right now, but the Berkshires are really good,” Salge explained.
Much of Vermont, from Rutland north to Burlington, is experiencing peak color, according to ExlporeFall.com.
Northern points in New Hampshire including the Conway, Lincoln, Woodstock, Franconia, Mount Washington, and Pittsburgh areas are also in peak foliage season.
Northern Maine near Bangor, Skowhegan, and Farmington are also spots where pastel colors are abundant.
Salge noted that peak colors will be filling in across the Blue Hills of Massachusetts in “about a week or so,” as well as Eastern New Hampshire and parts of Northern Maine like Acadia.
“There’s still a lot of options because things are so late this year,” Salge said.
So, what’s the key to salvaging fall foliage season in Southern New England? Salge said we need “more sunny days and crisp nights.”
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