Vermont Foresters Think Foliage Season Will Be Gorgeous, Despite (Or Because Of) Wet Summer

Fall foliage in Charlotte, Vermont in October, 2023.
After a rough, wet summer, foresters still expect
the upcoming foliage season to be beautiful.

 The weather is very much like you'd expect in July this week, but if you look at Vermont hillsides, the colors of autumn are starting to creep in. 

So will this year be a dud or a beauty?

Vermont Public recent interviewed Josh Halman, the forest health lead for the Vermont Department of Parks and Recreation. He's one expert who thinks we're in for a good season. 

He has reasons. 

For one thing, the state is certainly not in drought, despite the current stretch of dry weather. 

Soil moisture is still good. Trees were never stressed for want of water this year, and they aren't now as they prepare to go into dormancy. 

Stressed trees sometimes create lackluster foliage, so we're in good shape there. 

On the other hand, if it's too wet, like this summer certainly was, fungus can thrive on the tree leaves. While this doesn't harm the overall health of the trees, it can make leaves turn brown and fall off early in the season, dulling the fall colors. 

While autumn, 2023 was certainly pretty, a few spots suffered because some of Vermont's trademark sugar maples struggled with the fungus. Their leaves, instead of turning brilliant orange and red, in some instances just turned brown and shriveled.

Autumn, 2022 brought very little of that fungus, and that year was subjectively, in my opinion the best in quite a few years. 

The good news is Halman said he has seen much less of the that fungus on sugar maples this year, at least compared to last year. That means the sugar maples should put on a good show. 

Some birch and aspens, however, are having trouble with fungi, so leave on some of those varieties are failing and falling fast. 

Fall foliage season is quite important to Vermont. The summer's floods might not have an effect on the actual foliage, but could limit the number of leaf peepers that come up for the show. 

 Vermont tourism officials and attractions in the state are putting out the word that Vermont is very much open for business, the roads are back open so you can get from Point A to Point B,  The inns and restaurants and corn mazes and such are all ready for visitors. 

There's spots of color already, now that we're into mid-September. That's probably thanks in part to cool weather a week ago. It's gotten unseasonable warm again, and largely sunny, so I think the pace of color change is temporarily slowing slightly. But it will continue on its march to an eventual peak season, as it always does. 

Changes will come rapidly late this month and in early October,. How long foliage season stays gorgeous depends on the weather, of course. . Calm, still days in October will keep it going for quite awhile. Windy rain storms will have the opposite effect. 

No matter how you slice it, though, you should have plenty of opportunities between now and mid to late October to enjoy the color, as we do every autumn.