Portland, Maine — Leaf-peeping season has arrived in the Northeast and beyond, but weeks of drought have dulled this year’s fall colors and sent leaves fluttering to the ground earlier than usual.
Bathing in fall foliage is an annual tradition in the New England states as well as areas such as the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As the days get shorter and temperatures drop, the chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down and they take on autumnal tones of yellow, orange and red.
But dry weather in summer and fall can change all that because lack of water causes leaves to turn brown and fall off more quickly. And it’s happening this year, as more than 40% of the country was considered to be in drought as of early October, according to the US Drought Monitor.
That’s more than twice the average, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and author of Drought Tracker, a partnership between the federal government and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The drought has hit the northeast and western United States particularly hard, he said.
All this means that there are fewer leaves to look at.
“I think the season might be a little short and less colorful, for the most part,” Rippey said. “The color just won’t be there this year on some hillsides.”
Brittany Peterson / AP
Despite the bleak forecast, fall enthusiasts said it’s still a great year to get outside and enjoy nature’s fireworks. There’s still plenty of color in New England trees, said Andy Finton, senior conservation ecologist at The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts.
Climate change Forests are subject to extreme weather and heat waves, but fall in New England remains a beautiful time of year to experience the wonders of forest ecosystems, he said.
“Our trees and forests have an inherent resilience,” Finton said. “They are still very resilient and I am constantly amazed at how wonderful the fall season is despite this stress. »
Leaf watchers are mostly undeterred
Tourism activity built around leaf viewing has also proven resilient. At Mills Falls Resort Collection at the Lake in Meredith, New Hampshire, general manager Barbara Beckwith said business is good at the four 170-room inns. The number of Canadian tourists is down, Beckwith acknowledged, but she said that’s offset by domestic peepers, mostly from New England.
Beckwith said his properties were packed on weekends through mid-October and had been for weeks.
“This year will actually be better than last year,” Beckwith said. “Last year there was an election and that caused a lot of concern among people. Now they are traveling. The uncertainty of the election is over. We all know which president is now and we are traveling.”
Holly Ramer / AP
Chris Proulx, executive director of the Mount Washington (New Hampshire) Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the drop in Canadian tourists of up to 80 per cent seen this summer has continued into the fall. But the region is doing better, he said, thanks to an increase in travelers from other countries and its reputation for having one of the best leaf-viewing seasons in the country.
“This is the only season where people plan ahead to come in addition to travelers from all over the country and all over the world,” Proulx said.
Leaf peeping was so popular in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains this year that one town temporarily closed its highway ramp to ease traffic congestion. The area features a display of yellow poplars dotting the mountains between the conifers, their delicate leaves vibrating in the wind.
But there were signs of a dry spring in the central part of the state, one that gets worse the further west one travels, said Dan West, an entomologist with the Colorado State Forest Service, who spends many fall days on a plane studying how insect infestations affect tree health.
Crushed edges, muted colors and leaves dropping before they can turn a red or purple hue are all signs of drought stress, West said.
“The tree stops the processes early and we basically just see a muted show for the fall,” he said.
In Denver, arborist Michael Sundberg also said he’s seeing less vibrant colors than usual and that fall seems to have arrived earlier than usual this year. It’s still a beautiful time of year, but there may be less to enjoy, he said.
“It’s weird to have colors peaking so early in the mountains and Denver peaking at the same time,” he said. “Usually it’s later in October before we really go.”