leaves turning early?

I am sitting on my back porch this mourning and looking over the mohawk valley, I see a handfulll of trees already turning colors. One about fifty feet from me is half red already. Is this going to be a early year for leaf peakers? I know the mohawk valley has been "dry" this summer. But when I was up In the malone area this week, my friends say that they have been ok up there. Keep us posted.

There are always a few of what I call "rogue maples" that start turning before Labor Day up here, and I too think this will be an early year. I've seen some recently. But then it slows down again and follows the fairly typical sequence with the peak occurring from the last week of Sept into the first week of October.

When hiking in the White Mountains in NH yesterday, there were no apparent color changes.

The ones that are stressed turn first. I've seen a few scattered maples turn red within the last week or so (including the one on my property that I tore about a foot of bark off in early June of to girdle it , the leaves were fine until about two weeks ago)

I hiked to Mt Hight and Carter Dome yesterday and going up and down Nineteen Mile Brook Tr and the Carter Dome Tr, I saw quite a few leave colors already scattered about on the trails. Reds, Oranges, and Yellows. I even put a few in my pocket so I could bring them home to my daughter and show her what is coming soon. So there are a few random trees already at their peak. Very few but if you look, they are there. I also noticed this while having lunch on the shore of Carter Lake looking up into the Notch. Most was green, but there were like 5-10 particular tress already bright red. So yeah, it is happening. Exciting to see in one respect, but then that also means the cold and winter are coming also, and that doesn't get me too excited.

Stressed trees, trees in the open, trees on exposed ridges and rock ledges always turn earlier than healthy trees in the forest. There are some places in the Catskills where trees typically start turning in late July. This year July was fairly wet in the Cats and that phenomena was less than normal. The last few weeks have been very dry and those normally early areas are turning. But with a forecasted week of rain, and maybe the remnants of Katrina coming the change will probably slow down. It is still looks like a fairly normal autumn foliage season is coming here.

Rogue Maples...I love it!

I spent six years working with an ecologist studying Maple, Oak and Beech in the Catksills. Rogue Maples! He'd love that term!

I saw some turned leaves in the Cats today, and yes, they were Sugars. Dry conditions and forest tent caterpillars, lots of stressors this year in the forest, think some trees may handle it this way.

Last weekend

I observed several trees turning off the Kanc and in Pinkham Notch. Actually my wife mentioned it and I thought she was stupid, but she was right.

I've got a birch tree starting to turn down here in southern NH and it has had plenty of water due to sprinklers. Not sure why it would be "stressed." Maybe it heard about those "rogue maples."

Roxi

saw some color change yesterday

While climbing the summit of Osceola between it and the east peak...we looked back and saw some birches changing color...in very isolated areas.

grouseking

From the Bonds, two days ago, it was obvious that the summer green is fading on north-facing slopes. Also , near Kancamagus Pass, there was a patch of grass that had heavy morning frost! After the hike, I found an Octoberfest Lager in my cooler!

It seems to me that every year, someone asks 'Are the leaves turning early this year?"

There are always a few that start early, and it may give one the impression that all are starting.

I was on the Southern peaks the other day and made the same observation, they are in fact turning.