Maine Foliage Season

It looks like we could be in for an excellent leaf-peeping season. According to Maine forestry officials in Augusta, the hot, dry summer may deliver an ideal foliage season.  Gale Ross, Maine’s foliage spokeswoman has been fielding calls already from potential visitors about the upcoming season. One call came in from China.

Ross said with the nice dry, hot summer we’re setting up for a pretty good season. You notice already some trees are starting to turn with the bulk of Maine trees turning full color within the next few weeks. This year’s hardwood foliage appears to be in better than average condition and there have been no widespread or serious insect defoliation, so the potential is there to have a great foliage season.

In the northwestern part of the state 10 to 30 per cent of leaves have already changed, marking the beginning of the season for them.  The lower two thirds of Maine will have to wait a few more weeks. Weekly foliage reports have been collected by Maine forest rangers since 1939. Now a days Maine’s fall foliage reports can be found on their website.  The site features a link to Facebook which allows instant access to foliage updates.