Natural History Wanderings

Fall Foliage in New York | Autumn Leaves, Scenic Drives reports for the Week of Sept. 9-15, 2015

New York’s Colorful Fall Foliage Emerging in Thousand Islands-Seaway, Adirondacks, and Catskills Regions

Colors also appearing in northern Capital-Saratoga region

  This is the first 2015 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.

New York State’s colorful foliage season is underway with the first significant signs of spectacular fall colors beginning to appear in the Thousand Islands-Seaway, Adirondacks and Catskills regions, along with the northern portion of the Capital-Saratoga region, according to observers for the Empire State Development Division of Tourism’s I LOVE NEW YORK program.

In the Thousand Islands-Seaway region, spotters based in Oswego County expect up to 20 percent color change. 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, trees are all beginning to change, with a limited number of trees of full shades of green. Along the Tug Hill Plateau, maples are starting to show oranges and reds. In the Adirondacks region, foliage spotters based in Tupper Lake expect 10 percent color change in the Tupper Lake and Mt. Arab areas this weekend, where the vivid summer greens are in transition, revealing random shades of goldenrod, carrot, mustard, burgundy and scarlet. Foliage in the Adirondacks portion of St. Lawrence County (pictured at left) will be at 10 percent change by the weekend, with touches of red and gold.

Foliage spotters in the Catskills region based in Delaware County expect about 10 percent color change for the county this weekend, with some areas of color emerging from the mostly green backdrop. In the northern portion of the Capital-Saratoga region, spotters at Lapland Lake in Northville expect 10 percent color change with some dull red, orange and purple leaves appearing.

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