“The stage is set for a beautiful foliage season as early fall color begins to emerge across Vermont’s higher elevations and low-lying areas.

With the current forecast calling for cool nights through the weekend and the combination of adequate soil moisture and healthy green leaves, Vermont foresters are predicting an excellent fall season. In the early stages of fall foliage, the best color can generally be found in higher elevations, the northern sections of the state, and in low-lying areas where red maples are the early sentinels of the seasonal change.

‘The cool nights that are in the forecast may pop a little more color our way by the end of the week,’ says Ginger Anderson, Chief of Forest Management for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Early morning temperatures are forecasted to dip into the upper 30s this week.

Forest health aerial surveys over the North East Kingdom revealed that color in the red maple is developing well, particularly in the wetlands, Anderson said. In general, higher elevations will offer the most panoramic views of emerging color across the valleys, and many swamp or marsh areas will offer some of the most vivid and varied early season change.

‘I am also seeing scattered bits of other color, mostly weather and/or fungal related but overall leaf cover is good and I am anticipating a good color season in my little area,’ said Lamoille Country Forester Raymond Toolan.

To the south, Bennington Country Forester Chris Stone reports that ‘The beginnings for the foliage in Bennington County are now mostly found among the red maples that occupy the wetlands along Route 9 as you pass over the Green Mountains between Wilmington and Bennington, and to a lesser extent in the wetlands along Route 7 between Bennington and Manchester.'”

The Fall Foliage season in Vermont is one of the busiest times of the year while visitors flock from all over the world to witness the beautiful changing colors. This year it will be more important than ever to call ahead for reservations and check on road conditions before coming. Visit our Road Conditions page.

Parts of our updates are thanks to the USDA Forest Service, the Vermont Department of Tourism, and various “Leaf Peepers” around the state.

If you’d like to be on Vermont.com’s “Leaf Squad” to help report the Foliage conditions in your area of the Vermont, please contact us!

To view our first-hand reports throughout the state of Vermont, visit our Vermont Fall Foliage Reports.