BUFFALO, N.Y. — And all of a sudden, peak fall color has arrived to portions of Western New York and much of upstate New York.
In the latest update of the ILOVENY Fall Foliage Map for Oct. 12 to 18, near peak to peak fall colors have taken over more than half the state. Specifically, eight regions that should have vibrant fall colors for the next week or two.
New regions reporting peak fall colors are the Southern Tier, Catskills, and the Thousand Islands Seaway. Regions with near-peak fall colors include Buffalo, the Niagara Frontier, Rochester, and the Capital-Saratoga region. The Finger Lakes, portions of Central New York, and Hudson Valley are still reporting partial fall colors with NYC and Long Island with patchy fall colors still.
There is also now the first report of past peak color in the higher elevations of the Adirondacks, though the region itself is expecting fall colors to last in peak for about one more weekend.
Back to local leaves, peak fall colors for the Southern Tier have arrived about a week early than the initial outlook, which is two weeks early from the typical peak in late October. But as long as there are no major windstorms, peak fall foliage across the southern Tier could last through Oct. 24.
The typical peak for fall colors in the greater Buffalo area is usually sometime in early November. But with this trend and the first sign of fall colors in the for Western New York arriving about a week ahead of schedule, this could mean the region experiences peak fall color in late October for Buffalo, Niagara Falls and the Genesee Valley.
Even so, the future forecast can play a still play a role in how quickly leaves change. Unseasonably cool nights early on could accelerate the process while warmer days can allow it to lag.
ILOVENY.COM's map is made through the culmination of visual reports from volunteer spotters and archived data from previous years.