The fall foliage season is officially underway in the northern half of the state. And Maine's tree-color experts say this could be a good season throughout the state.
As of last week, all of northern Maine was showing "moderate" color, meaning 30% to 50% of the trees had started to change. Meanwhile, low amounts of fall color were reported in Maine’s southern-most coastal communities and across the strip of forests stretching from Jackman in the west to Houlton in the east.
The rest of western, central and coastal Maine was still pretty green. But recent chilly nighttime temperatures will only accelerate that change.
Gale Ross, who is the official fall foliage spokesperson for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, said the state received just the right amount of rain over the summer to set the stage for a "vibrant" fall season.
"Right now it seems like the foliage reporting season is right on track, with northern Maine reaching peak the end of this month into the first week of October and the progression following suit after that," Ross said on Friday.
Visitors can track Maine's fall foliage conditions here.
Fall is still a busy time for Maine's tourism industry. The Maine Office of Tourism reported that just under 20% of all tourism visits to Maine in 2022 occurred during the fall.
Acadia National Park, for instance, drew more than 1.1 million recreational visits in September and October of last year, with 541,000 of those visits occurring in October, according to statistics from the National Park Service.
