Despite the recent warm weather, parts of Maine are seeing a real sign of fall: leaves sporting their autumn colors.
State forestry officials say northern Maine, above Houlton to Jackman, is seeing high color change with moderate-to-low color change elsewhere. The entire state is reporting low leaf drop.
“We’re headed into what’s probably going to be a typical Maine foliage year, with brilliant colors,” says state Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry spokesman John Bott.
Bott says a lot of what happens depends on the weather, with cool nights and warm days acting as a trigger.
“We’ve had some pretty above average temperature days. That has the potential to either push the season back a couple weeks to make it longer. If we were to get a hard frost, say in the western mountains, that could shorten the season,” he says.
Bott says, right now, it looks like there’ll be a lot of color over the Columbus Day weekend.