New England Foliage Thread

[Lava Rock]

Still a lot of green around here and what is changing is pretty dull.

[powderfreak]

just went out driving around. you may be stuck with mostly sticks and oaks.

There are still pockets of orange and yellow but yesterday's rain and wind put anything above like 1200ft into stick season.

Radders was up here, nice guy grabbed a coffee earlier with him, and still saw some color but said it was much better like 50 miles south towards Killington and southern/central VT. Going north he said it started going more bare and left-over color.

The amazing this is I think last Sunday was peak...and in one week it's pretty much over. And like 15 days ago it was green, lol. It's ridiculous how fast it goes. Since this thread was started we went from like low color to peak and past that fast.

[powderfreak]

Applying a slight "S" shape to the tone curves does wonders for adding contrast and increasing dynamic range, but it is easy to go overboard, especially if you've been staring at the image for a while. I try to avoid bringing down the shadows too far, as you start to quickly lose detail in the deeper tones. Personally I tend to avoid touching the far left and far right sides of the histogram (maybe like 1/6th one each side?) unless I'm doing localized adjustments or correcting a fundamental exposure error.

Nice shot.

That bolded part is for sure. If I've been on a photo for too long trying to balance it, I'll take a break, look at the original, and come back to it later. If you work on it too long you forget the original and what you were trying to fix in the first place.

A lot of times with ski photos I'm taking action shots in low light so most of my efforts in the winter is brightening the shot without losing the crisp detail.

[cny rider]

There are still pockets of orange and yellow but yesterday's rain and wind put anything above like 1200ft into stick season.

Radders was up here, nice guy grabbed a coffee earlier with him, and still saw some color but said it was much better like 50 miles south towards Killington and southern/central VT. Going north he said it started going more bare and left-over color.

The amazing this is I think last Sunday was peak...and in one week it's pretty much over. And like 15 days ago it was green, lol. It's ridiculous how fast it goes. Since this thread was started we went from like low color to peak and past that fast.

This year was the fastest peak foliage I have ever seen here in central NY.

We hit peak last weekend.  By mid-week there was rapid leaf drop.  Today I raked huge piles of maple and ash leaves.

We are well past peak now at 1220 feet.   

I wonder what caused it to be so fast this year?

[Juliancolton]

That bolded part is for sure. If I've been on a photo for too long trying to balance it, I'll take a break, look at the original, and come back to it later. If you work on it too long you forget the original and what you were trying to fix in the first place.

A lot of times with ski photos I'm taking action shots in low light so most of my efforts in the winter is brightening the shot without losing the crisp detail.

Indeed. You can spend an hour doing minor tweaks without realizing that you've changed the image beyond recognition... lol. The same is true for formal writing, and probably any other creative project.

[Juliancolton]

As for mby, conditions are very dull at the moment. The rain and wind yesterday wiped out the leaves that had already changed (maybe like 1/4) and left bare sticks juxtaposed against vast swaths of green and yellow. Barring another mass leaf-drop, I still anticipate a decent peak in a week or two.

 

Here's a five-shot panorama I took at a nearby pond this evening. More to document the ongoing change than show anything spectacular. It's a relatively large file, worth zooming in if your browser is up for the challenge.

 

[Skivt2]

Killington is way past peak

[Flying MXZ]

Monadonock on Rte 124 between Keene and Jaffrey on Friday. Polarizing lens brought out yellows. White Pine trees in this region (including Worcester) have lots of yellow needles. Never noticed this before. Do they normally start losing older needles this time of year?

My white pines always lose a lot of yellow needles this time of year. 

[tamarack]

Monadonock on Rte 124 between Keene and Jaffrey on Friday. Polarizing lens brought out yellows. White Pine trees in this region (including Worcester) have lots of yellow needles. Never noticed this before. Do they normally start losing older needles this time of year?

 

White pine needles work thru two seasons, growing during the spring of year one then turning yellow and falling in early autumn of year two, though a few on the main stem hold into a third growing season.  Most other conifers (other than tamarack) keep their needles longer, three years for red pine, 4-10 years for spruces and fir, with hemlock and northern white cedar somewhere in that range as well. 

[eyewall]

Killington is way past peak

 

Wow I imagine some very disappointed leaf peepers this past weekend.

[wxeyeNH]

It's interesting how much the weather during the couple of weeks of peak color affects things.  We had pretty good color a few days ago then the fropa and those 10-15% of leaves came down.  Now color is coming back and tomorrows fropa will bring down another 10%.  For the best color we need a prolonged windless dry spell so everything can turn and stay on the trees.  It seems that is what happened in the mountains of N NH and VT last week.  I am definitely not near peak, maybe it will coincide with Columbus Day weekend in Central areas of New England. 

[powderfreak]

Wow I imagine some very disappointed leaf peepers this past weekend.

We are already getting complaints from people today and this past weekend...town is sold out next weekend. Those folks will get a good look at stick season.

Columbus Day weekend is just too late every year for mountain foliage.

[dendrite]

Lots of leaf drop on 93N on my way home this afternoon compared to Friday. I guess we can argue what peak is, but when most of the maples are going bare I consider it past peak. I don't really care how much the oaks have changed yet. Mine are probably 50/50.

[Damage In Tolland]

Every oak tree in America should be cut down

[powderfreak]

It's interesting how much the weather during the couple of weeks of peak color affects things. We had pretty good color a few days ago then the fropa and those 10-15% of leaves came down. Now color is coming back and tomorrows fropa will bring down another 10%. For the best color we need a prolonged windless dry spell so everything can turn and stay on the trees. It seems that is what happened in the mountains of N NH and VT last week. I am definitely not near peak, maybe it will coincide with Columbus Day weekend in Central areas of New England.

I have a real hard time believing your area isn't at peak foliage yet...just based on your climate isn't *that* different from here.

[wxeyeNH]

I have a real hard time believing your area isn't at peak foliage yet...just based on your climate isn't *that* different from here.

John,  I was all around Bristol this AM and the color is around 35%.  Looking at the hills they were mostly green.  Nothing like Franconia Notch a week ago where everything was brilliant.  Swamp maples have past and perhaps the forest are mostly oak around my immediate area, I just don't know.  Maybe its because the hills stayed just above freezing during those frosty mornings awhile back while you had a hard freeze.  About a week ago I thought our peak was going to be extremely early but now I just don't know.  Historically I have noted our peak around Oct 14th.   

 

Just took this picture with my cellphone, didn't change any color settings.  Yes, some trees are bright but the hillsides still are mostly green.  

[Damage In Tolland]

Who is John lol?

[eekuasepinniW]

I don't know about Gene's area, but the lake has a pretty strong influence on mine.

 

Took this photo this evening with my new camera that I already don't really like.

 

Those are all maples behind the greenhouse, with the exception of the dead oak at the right and dead birch at the left.  Behind my building is mostly sweet birch and maple and is probably >80% green.

 

[wxeyeNH]

I just like calling people by there first names.  Powderfreak is John.  Or I could call him just Powderfreak if he prefers.  I understand handle names on large boards or controversial boards but this is a small group. 

[dendrite]

I just like calling people by there first names.  Powderfreak is John.  Or I could call him just Powderfreak if he prefers.  I understand handle names on large boards or controversial boards but this is a small group. 

His name is Scott.

[CoastalWx]

Powderfreak is Scott.

Anyways, Gene lakes have lots of oaks.

[Damage In Tolland]

John is Coastalwx

[powderfreak]

John, I was all around Bristol this AM and the color is around 35%. Looking at the hills they were mostly green. Nothing like Franconia Notch a week ago where everything was brilliant. Swamp maples have past and perhaps the forest are mostly oak around my immediate area, I just don't know. Maybe its because the hills stayed just above freezing during those frosty mornings awhile back while you had a hard freeze. About a week ago I thought our peak was going to be extremely early but now I just don't know. Historically I have noted our peak around Oct 14th.

Just took this picture with my cellphone, didn't change any color settings. Yes, some trees are bright but the hillsides still are mostly green.

Wow. I guess you're right. That looks really different from here. And I'm not talking mountain, but like 700-1200ft is going bare too.

This was a couple days ago during the rain, but around my condo complex most of the trees are bare now.

Must be different trees, and we did have a hard freeze but 1500ft didn't (stayed 34+) at the ski resort and it didn't seem to make a difference. The mountain looks like November now.

[CoastalWx]

John is Coastalwx

 

My name is Lafonda.

[wxeyeNH]

I think I will go back to the handles!  Thanks guys

[powderfreak]

I was just looking back through old photos from a long time ago...and found these from October 3rd, 2003...

 

These are from October 3, 2003 and a first snowfall.  The leaves look 7-10 days later that fall as there's still good color on the mountain in these shots.

 

 

 

October 9th 2003 in town....this is what it looked like last weekend on the 27/28th.  So 2003 was much later than this year.

 

 

October 15th, 2003... in town.  We've already passed this stage this year.

 

 

And October 24th, 2003... seems like there were a few snowfalls that month on the mountain.

 

[Isotherm]

What do you think was the impetus for the much earlier peak this year? Temperature departures certainly weren't impressively colder than normal throughout the Northeast. My guess is that 7-10 day period of dry / sunny days and cold nights launched things quickly. It's probably not all that easy to pull off a week+ stretch of weather like that. Maybe the cooler summer temperatures played a role as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[Damage In Tolland]

What do you think was the impetus for the much earlier peak this year? Temperature departures certainly weren't impressively colder than normal throughout the Northeast. My guess is that 7-10 day period of dry / sunny days and cold nights launched things quickly. It's probably not all that easy to pull off a week+ stretch of weather like that. Maybe the cooler summer temperatures played a role as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 The drought and the cold August

[dendrite]

The drought and the cold August

There was no "drought" in NNE.

[tamarack]

There was no "drought" in NNE.

 

Even when the rains stopped in mid August, the trees were winding down and the heavier rains up thru that point meant the water table was high.  It took nearly 5 weeks of <25% normal precip to drag the Sandy River down to median flow.  I think the relatively long sunny stretch coming right after the first freeze (for most foothills/mtn areas) did the trick.  It's as fast an almost-nothing-to-peak change as I can remember.

 

Well over 50% leaf drop around home, though lots of color remains along my commute to Augusta.  Only the one tall oak retains nearly full foliage near our house.