Natural History Wanderings

I Love New York has a fall color report for the Week of September 10-16

FIRST SIGNS OF COLORFUL FALL FOLIAGE EMERGING IN ADIRONDACKS, THOUSAND ISLANDS-SEAWAY AND CATSKILLS REGIONS

The 2014 Fall Foliage Season in New York State is Under Way!

This is the first 2014 FALL COLOR REPORT for New York State. Reports are obtained from field observers and reflect expected color conditions for the coming weekend. FALL COLOR REPORTS are issued every Wednesday afternoon.

Albany, N.Y. – New York State’s colorful foliage season is officially here as the first significant signs of spectacular fall colors are beginning to appear in the Adirondacks, Thousand Islands-Seaway, and Catskills regions, according to observers for the Empire State Development Division of Tourism’s I LOVE NEW YORK program.

In the Adirondacks region, foliage spotters based in Lake Placid expect up to 20 percent color change by the weekend with brilliant patches of gold, yellow, orange and some scattered red leaves. Cool, crisp nights and sunny days are creating the components for a fantastic foliage season according to foliage spotters in the Tupper Lake/Mt. Arab areas of Franklin County. For the coming weekend they expect up to 20 percent color change with leaves of muted brilliance. Look for sporadic tones of burgundy, scarlet, ginger and goldenrod.

Foliage spotters in the Thousand Islands-Seaway region based in Oswego County project up to 20 percent color change by this weekend.  From the Salmon River near Pulaski in Oswego County, the sugar maples and oaks are shades of green, with spots of yellow and orange. Red maples and sumacs have started to emerge. In southern Oswego County, near Phoenix and Fulton, most trees are exhibiting some color change, with trees of full shades of green limited.

In the Catskills region, Greene County spotters in Lanesville predict 20 percent color change with greens becoming duller and lighter and shades of red beginning to appear. Some individual trees can be spotted sporting shades of yellow and red. In Ulster County, leaf peepers in Kingston expect up to 15 percent color change with some yellow leaves of average brilliance. Spotters in Saugerties expect areas of up to 15 percent color change by weekend, with bright shades of yellow and gold starting to appear against a mostly green backdrop.

The rest of the state reports 10 percent or less color change.

New York State’s Advantage

Why do people from all over the world head to the spectacular New York State foliage display? Unlike the rest of the country, the northeastern U.S. is particularly blessed with a great variety of broad-leaved trees, which help give the region’s foliage a spectacular color range. Also, New York State has almost as many acres of such trees as the rest of the Northeast combined.

New York State’s vast area means that you can enjoy peak conditions several times during the season in different parts of the state. The change in color from the bright greens of summer to the brilliant hues of fall follows a predictable pattern: It begins high in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains in late August and early September, and spreads out and down across the hills and valleys of the state, ending on Long Island and in New York City in early November. It takes about two weeks for the colors to complete their cycles in any given area, with peak brilliance lasting three to four days in any one spot.

See fall color map and follow weekly reports on Wednesdays at Fall Foliage in New York | Autumn Leaves, Scenic Drives.