powderfreak Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 13 hours ago, mreaves said: I think we are a little late up here, peak is maybe a week early. A lot of times Columbus Day weekend is a bit of a letdown for tourists. I will say that I thought the foliage would be a bit dull because of the dryness too but, as you've noted, it has been brilliant so far. The thing is it hasn't been that dry except for September up here. MPV had normal summer rain JJA (almost to the tenth of an inch), then way under in September. Mansfield was similar. I think the average summer rainfall followed by a dry September with large diurnal swings and limited frost/freeze is the reason. Will touched on that earlier in the thread I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApacheTrout Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 2 hours ago, ApacheTrout said: Yeah but look at the prime growing season. And September alone accounts for like -3 to -4 inches in VT. I really think there's something about the normal summer precip followed by a dry warm September with no early hard freezes. Ill run the numbers of some spots later, like in the 60 CoCoRAHS stations that report regularly in the state, 41 had 12-19" of rain in MET summer. I generally use 12" as a threshold as that's an average of 4" per month and 1" per week during the summer. It was dry in some areas but there was also a good deal of precipitation out there for the taking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 Pretty cool photo (I think) from today that illustrates some cool micro-features of foliage... I'm standing on the cliffs at Spruce Peak, looking due west at the east-facing wall of Smugglers Notch (Mount Mansfield's east slope). So the overall wall is facing east but within the wall are a series of micro-ridges and small aspect changes. Since the wall faces east, right is north and left is south in this photo. You can very easily see the subtle south-facing forest is still in full foliage (peak or near peak even with some green left), while the north-facing trees have mostly dropped their leaves and are well past peak. Its amazing how very subtle aspect changes has such a profound effect on the local environment. Slightly north facing or slightly south facing makes a huge difference in vegetation and foliage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 15 hours ago, powderfreak said: Pretty cool photo (I think) from today that illustrates some cool micro-features of foliage... I'm standing on the cliffs at Spruce Peak, looking due west at the east-facing wall of Smugglers Notch (Mount Mansfield's east slope). So the overall wall is facing east but within the wall are a series of micro-ridges and small aspect changes. Since the wall faces east, right is north and left is south in this photo. You can very easily see the subtle south-facing forest is still in full foliage (peak or near peak even with some green left), while the north-facing trees have mostly dropped their leaves and are well past peak. Its amazing how very subtle aspect changes has such a profound effect on the local environment. Slightly north facing or slightly south facing makes a huge difference in vegetation and foliage. That is a great photo and capture of the phenomena. I was trying to figure it out when I was there again yesterday afternoon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Cool pic! I think that the biggest leaf color/drop differences between north and south aspect are due to soils and tree species mix, moreso than how trees of the same species behave. It may be somewhat due to the greater leaf fall, but the north slope crowns appear smaller than those on the south slopes. An example I've seen of dramatic site/species mix vs. aspect was on the east side of Mt. Abraham, about 5 miles south of Sugarloaf. We were at 2,500-2,700' elev, and the S/SE/E/NE aspect sequence was repeated 3X as we walked S-to-N and crossed ravines. The south aspects had open stands of white birch, maples, and fir. SE aspect held high volume spruce-dominated softwoods with young spruce-fir covering the ground. East aspect was fir-spruce on infertile-looking soil and ground littered with dead trees and few seedlings present, and the NE aspect was a dense black spruce and boulder stand nearly impossible to penetrate. We'd always lose 2-300' trying to push thru this last, then gain it back in the other three types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Valley Snowman Posted October 12, 2016 Author Share Posted October 12, 2016 Any thoughts on prime leaf viewing this Sunday. I would prefer to keep within one and a half hours of my location in far Northern Connecticut. I was thinking perhaps the Berkshires, Northern Worcester County, or Litchfield County Connecticut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 PF. Interesting post. I wonder how much also has to do to wind speed/direction? For instance after a heavy snow fall once the NW wind has died down the northwest slopes will have snow free trees while the southeast protected areas would be snow laiden and with white trees. Was that picture taken after the stiff NW wind on Monday? If it was taken just before that wind then we could more surely say it has to do climate, soils or tree type since we had had a long period of light winds and no rainfall. I feel that micro wind conditions are the biggest contributor to foliage differences depending what has transpired the past couple of days to a week before. Thoughts? CTValley I'm 2 hours north of Boston. We had our maple peak on Sunday and then lost about 20% of leaves from Mondays wind. I think another color wave is coming. Still quite a bit of green even up here. Definitely passed in the mountains of NNE. I am guessing peak is still going to be either in the higher Berkshires or still north of the Mass boarder. Still 3 to 5 days away so maybe the higher terrain in Central Mass would be peak. I'm sure there are lots of websites with day to day comments and updates from peeps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Just wanted to post a few more from the other day with the rime ice on the trees above foliage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 3 hours ago, wxeyeNH said: PF. Interesting post. I wonder how much also has to do to wind speed/direction? For instance after a heavy snow fall once the NW wind has died down the northwest slopes will have snow free trees while the southeast protected areas would be snow laiden and with white trees. Was that picture taken after the stiff NW wind on Monday? If it was taken just before that wind then we could more surely say it has to do climate, soils or tree type since we had had a long period of light winds and no rainfall. I feel that micro wind conditions are the biggest contributor to foliage differences depending what has transpired the past couple of days to a week before. Thoughts? That photo was from Monday morning, after the wind on Sunday. Maybe the wind has something to do with it but I'm leaning against that. Unless the fact it was north facing had weakened the leaves enough that the wind stripped them. But on the mountain the wind was fairly universal and strong everywhere, not just north facing slopes. In fact, I often find the strongest winds to be a lower elevation on the lee side from almost micro-downslope mixing. In situations with NW winds like Sunday, we actually get the strongest winds on the east side of the mountain as they flow over the mountain and then rush down the east slopes. Meanwhile the west slopes will often be calmer as the best velocities are forced up and over the mountain. Its like a strong SE flow in a winter storm leads to damaging winds on the NW facing slopes while it can be dead calm and pounding snow on the east slopes. This is such a micro example in that photo, but I don't see how the wind would strip those trees while leaving all the other areas foliage, especially as the aspect change is very subtle. I think its more a soil and climate variation related to solar. You can see in the photo that the shadows are already long in that area of woods (this is pretty much at sunrise) and that's the best sunlight that patch will see all day long. The sunlight comes from the southeast, and as the day goes on and the sunlight comes from the southwest, the shadows will just grow from there. The sun sets on some of these aspects by noon this time of year due to the terrain blocking the already low angle sunlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 1 hour ago, powderfreak said: That photo was from Monday morning, after the wind on Sunday. Maybe the wind has something to do with it but I'm leaning against that. Unless the fact it was north facing had weakened the leaves enough that the wind stripped them. But on the mountain the wind was fairly universal and strong everywhere, not just north facing slopes. In fact, I often find the strongest winds to be a lower elevation on the lee side from almost micro-downslope mixing. In situations with NW winds like Sunday, we actually get the strongest winds on the east side of the mountain as they flow over the mountain and then rush down the east slopes. Meanwhile the west slopes will often be calmer as the best velocities are forced up and over the mountain. Its like a strong SE flow in a winter storm leads to damaging winds on the NW facing slopes while it can be dead calm and pounding snow on the east slopes. This is such a micro example in that photo, but I don't see how the wind would strip those trees while leaving all the other areas foliage, especially as the aspect change is very subtle. I think its more a soil and climate variation related to solar. You can see in the photo that the shadows are already long in that area of woods (this is pretty much at sunrise) and that's the best sunlight that patch will see all day long. The sunlight comes from the southeast, and as the day goes on and the sunlight comes from the southwest, the shadows will just grow from there. The sun sets on some of these aspects by noon this time of year due to the terrain blocking the already low angle sunlight. Wow, lots of info to think about! Yeah, of course I don't know anything about Mansfield, I was just thinking how sometimes snow left on trees on windward sides of mountains verses lee sides might explain leave loss after a windy day. Would be interesting to do some type of study now that we have drone technology and compare the same areas year after year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Fall foliage from Space...from BTV FB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 13 hours ago, powderfreak said: Just wanted to post a few more from the other day with the rime ice on the trees above foliage. I love that last one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 In situations with NW winds like Sunday, we actually get the strongest winds on the east side of the mountain as they flow over the mountain and then rush down the east slopes. Meanwhile the west slopes will often be calmer as the best velocities are forced up and over the mountain. This sounds like a situation I encountered about 18 years ago while working on the south side of Bigelow at about 1800-2100 ft elev. It was a late October day with CAA from the NW, and when I walked up from 1200 ft and reached 1800, I experienced my one and only leafnado, about 15 seconds of roaring wind with thousands of fresh-fallen leaves lifted from the ground and swirling by. Then it began to snow and accumulate, which at least pinned down the leaves, though the wind continued to strengthen. Another 90 minutes and an inch of snow later, I would listen for approaching gusts so I could find a large bare-limbed maple to hide behind - the rimey flakes plus twigs and stuff being painful at 50 mph (my guess of wind speed.) At that point it seemed likely that the spruce and fir might be transformed into 80-foot forester-swatters so I headed downhill. At 1200 ft there was no snow, little rain, and moderate wind. That same day the Bigelow manager was in the woods north of the ridgeline at similar elevations, and he said it was windy, but nothing special and no precip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Miser Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks where my family's camp is. Photo was taken a few days ago. The photographer takes many great shots all around the Adirondacks.. (Not New England, but the shot is pretty nice) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Winni today. Cold front and color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Absolute peak between Richmond and Bolton now in the valley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Valley Snowman Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 I'm seeing solid moderate color across most of interior CT now . I have not been out in Litchfield county but spotters are reporting high color out there Some really bright reds on the maples showing up mixed in with earlier turning trees and wetland areas that have almost dulled or gone by a bit in spots but still a pretty large amount of green left, especially in the bigger oaks. You could definitely see the colors popping over the past few days in more areas. I'm thinking we're probably about 7-10 days away from peak in northern CT which would be about October 20-23, probably a bit sooner in the higher elevations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Peak in this area should be over the next week or so. Oaks turning their hideous browns and yellows now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Sunrise on Bamforth Ridge along the Long Trail: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhoon Tip Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 I've often heard and read from various sources that dry summers immediately preceding foliage season ensued dullard colors... that doesn't seem to be working out too well here in interior, N-central Massachusetts. this is just one example, but General Sherman is about as vibrant in deep tapestry of oranges, set advantageously against a canvas of exceptional cerulean blue ... as I think this particular beast has ever bragged so loudly - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhoon Tip Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 9 hours ago, Damage In Tolland said: Peak in this area should be over the next week or so. Oaks turning their hideous browns and yellows now i hear ya on the browns of seasonal oaks ...but, the yellow can be pretty sweet actually. sometimes, also, you get very deep crimson reds out of oaks too - so not a total loss there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 1 minute ago, Typhoon Tip said: i hear ya on the browns of seasonal oaks ...but, the yellow can be pretty sweet actually. sometimes, also, you get very deep crimson reds out of oaks too - so not a total loss there. Plant (or look for) pin oaks. They do red nicely, if a bit on the darker side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhoon Tip Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 4 minutes ago, tamarack said: Plant (or look for) pin oaks. They do red nicely, if a bit on the darker side. yeah ... crimson might be a bit strong for description there; not sure exactly what that is on the color wheel of 'tweener hues, but it's pretty loud to the eyes when your lucky enough to catch one popping within the mediocrity of it's surrounding dullards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapturedNature Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 On 10/12/2016 at 2:35 PM, CTValleySnowMan said: Any thoughts on prime leaf viewing this Sunday. I would prefer to keep within one and a half hours of my location in far Northern Connecticut. I was thinking perhaps the Berkshires, Northern Worcester County, or Litchfield County Connecticut. Don't rule out eastern Connecticut. Same foliage, less traffic/hassles. Either way, take lots of back roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliancolton Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 19 hours ago, CTValleySnowMan said: I'm seeing solid moderate color across most of interior CT now . I have not been out in Litchfield county but spotters are reporting high color out there Some really bright reds on the maples showing up mixed in with earlier turning trees and wetland areas that have almost dulled or gone by a bit in spots but still a pretty large amount of green left, especially in the bigger oaks. You could definitely see the colors popping over the past few days in more areas. I'm thinking we're probably about 7-10 days away from peak in northern CT which would be about October 20-23, probably a bit sooner in the higher elevations. I took a drive around the Twin Lakes yesterday... your description is pretty much dead-on. Nice color in places, but still probably less than halfway changed over, best I could tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Past peak and dropping fast. Great run though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Valley Snowman Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share Posted October 15, 2016 4 hours ago, MetHerb said: Don't rule out eastern Connecticut. Same foliage, less traffic/hassles. Either way, take lots of back roads. NE CT is a possibility as well. My experience has been the Southern Berks and Northern Litchfield turn a bit earlier than NE CT and this Sunday may be a bit closer to peak but its all beautiful countryside. Even Interstate 91 here in Enfield is showing some pretty nice color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 15 minutes ago, powderfreak said: Past peak and dropping fast. Great run though. It was a nice stretch for sure and fun to fly even if everyone is sick of my shots LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quakertown needs snow Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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