Fall foliage expert says leaf peepers will enjoy earlier colors this year

It’s officially fall in New England and trees are starting to change colors already.

7’s Melanie Black spoke with a foliage expert, who says there are a number of factors leading to earlier colors this year.

Some parts of northern New England are expected to reach peak color as early as next week and much of southern New England is not far behind.

“Usually we expect a nice wave of color to move from the Canadian border down to the South Shore over 4 to 6 weeks or so and this year we expect much more of a patchwork and it’s going to be a combination of a whole bunch of microclimates that are going to effect the colors at any given location,” said Jim Salge, a fall foliage reporter with Yankee Magazine.

And he’s seeing color in the trees earlier this year.

“Right when the leaves were coming out we had a lot of rain and the fungus set in and then the rain just shut off mid-summer and so now we’re dealing with drought, so there’s a lot of stress this year … but drought doesn’t mean no color, we’re seeing a lot of reds in some of the most drought-stricken areas,” he added.

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