We’re now near the midway point of peak fall color season, and it’s looking the part in much of the northern two-thirds of the Lower 48 states. Some of the nation’s most iconic fall color spots are at or near peak.
According to the latest update from foliage tracking website Explore Fall, color varies from approaching peak to just past peak in interior New England, one of the country’s top leaf-peeping destinations, depending on elevation. With a steady supply of cool air pouring into the eastern United States over the next week, much of the region is likely to see relatively rapid color progression, including the Appalachians.
To the west, the lower Midwest and southern Great Lakes regions are draped in fiery fall colors while locations nearer the international border and the high terrain of the Mountain West move further past peak.
Where colors are peaking
Most of northern New England, save the higher elevations, has peak color this weekend. The most vibrant color is increasingly shifting into central and southern New England and lower in elevation.
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While much of interior New England is seeing peak color, the season has been lackluster by many accounts.
“Usually at this point, a wave of beautiful colors is sweeping south, downhill, and toward the coast of New England,” wrote Yankee Magazine in its weekly foliage update. “This is not at all what we are seeing this year.”
The Yankee Magazine update attributed the underwhelming color to a rainy late summer period that lead to leaf fungus, a lack of sustained cool air in fall and recent stormy and windy weather that resulted in leaf drop.
Closer to the coast, the big cities of the northeast along Interstate 95 are all seeing spotty color, with the most around Boston.
To the south, moderate to high color stretches along the Appalachian spine through Virginia into North Carolina.
Into the central states, foliage is past its peak in northern Minnesota and much of Wisconsin, while colors are peaking just to the south. Areas west of Chicago and north of Lansing, Mich., are good places to seek fall color this weekend.
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The high mountains of the West have been the places to be in recent weeks but are increasingly barren, some buried in snow. Lower elevation cities in the Pacific Northwest remain rather colorful.
Share this articleShareWhere peak color is right around the corner
Much of New England outside the mountains in the north will see near-peak or peak in the week to come. Toward the coast and lower elevations, moderate color is a good bet through Boston and Providence, R.I., while Hartford, Conn., is moving through high color. Locations east of the mountains from New Hampshire to Maine are also expected to approach peak over the next week.
Large parts of Pennsylvania, then southward along the Appalachians through the Virginias and into North Carolina, are moving into their best color. An exception is the highest elevations of West Virginia which are already past peak, but color remains abundant elsewhere in the state.
Patches of foliage have begun to notably increase west of I-95 west of Washington and Philadelphia, which should see color explode over the next couple of weeks.
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Spotty color is also likely to become more noticeable across much of the South from Oklahoma City and Dallas to the northern Gulf Coast region and the Carolinas.
While much of the Mountain West is beyond peak, Denver and Albuquerque are approaching it. Montana’s rolling plains are also in the midst of expanding color, as are inland valley locations like Boise, Idaho, and Salt Lake City. Portland, Medford and Eureka in Oregon, and Seattle are all to move closer to peak as well.
I huffed the “M” trail to capture some of the color before the leaves fall then wandered the vibrant University of Montana oval. What a great time of year to be on campus.@umontana pic.twitter.com/UWFwNfGY9B
— Sally Mauk (@sallymauk) October 11, 2023Regional spotlight: Blue Ridge Parkway
Running from the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina to Shenandoah National Park in northern Virginia, the Blue Ridge Parkway traverses hundreds of acres of iconic wilderness and is just a day trip away from the I-95 corridor.
Peak foliage season is mid-October along the Blue Ridge Parkway, although great color emerges somewhere throughout the month along the chain.
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The best color along the Blue Ridge Parkway in northern Virginia usually occurs a couple weeks ahead of the Washington metro area, so it’s a great place to visit while awaiting trees to peak nearer the city.
The sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, where elevations soar above 5,000 feet, tend to reach peak foliage earliest.
To see when and where to expect colors to pop along the parkway, Explore Fall’s website has an excellent interactive 3D map that can serve as a guide. Just plan on crowds if you go and the weather is good.
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