Classic Indian Summer Unfolding In Northern New England, SE Canada

Morning fog breaks up to reveal bright
fall colors during a 2012
Indian Summer in Vermont.  

One of the big joys of autumn is Indian Summer, and parts of northern New England, the interior Northeast and southeastern Canada are in the throes of a perfect one now.  

Indian Summer is loosely defined as a period of sunny, warm, calm weather after some of the autumn's first frosts.

Most of the area now heading into Indian Summer had a big frost last week. That chill is  all but forgotten as temperatures will rise into the 70s under sunny skies for the next few days.

The core of this Indian Summer, with the best weather now through Sunday, will be in northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and an area of southeastern Canada including Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.

A very common fall weather pattern causes Indian Summer. Sprawling, slow moving high pressure systems often linger over the northeastern United States or southeastern Canada this time of year.

High pressure systems feature sinking air. Clouds need rising air to form, so the sinking air encourages clear skies.

The air in these autumn high pressure areas is often dry, so you get cool nights, but warm days with the sun.

The only major exception to the "no cloud" rule during Indian Summer is dense morning fog, especially near rivers and lakes. Pretty much every morning now through Sunday will feature patchy early morning fog.

The air cools off a lot at night during Indian Summer. The ground, rivers, ponds and such are still pretty warm from the recently departed summer. As the air cools, the relative humidity goes up and the moisture from the warm-ish rivers and ground, etc. forms a dense fog.

On the negative side, dense fog is dangerous because anyone who's driven through it knows you often can't see a damn thing it's so thick.

On the bright side, the morning fog is almost always a sign of another beautiful day in store. The rising sun will quickly dissipate the fog, usually by mid-morning.

A Pro Tip here: If you want to photograph fall foliage, get out there when there is dense morning fog. Yeah,  I know you can't see the foliage through the fog, but just wait. The rising sun, with its low angle, combined with dissipating fog around brightly colored trees, often leads to some spectacular photos

Try it, you'll see.

Speaking of foliage, this current Indian Summer is hitting when the foliage is getting very colorful in some areas. The High Peaks of the Adirondacks, the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, far northern New Hampshire, the mountains of western Maine and the Laurentians of southeastern Quebec are approaching peak color.

Lower elevations to the south of this region have some color, and it's nice, but there's still a fair amount of green.  It's still worth a look at the colors in those areas if you can't head to the north and mountains.

As always, Indian Summers have several days of wall to wall sunshine, but there are interruptions. The first nor'easter of the season is causing a rainy day in the mid-Atlantic states. That huge high pressure system causing the Indian Summer will block that nor'easter from reaching northern New England, but it will throw a few clouds into the sky today.

A cold front heading due south from Quebec later Sunday and Monday will cool off the weather a bit and create some clouds next week, especially since an east wind behind the front will bring in some low clouds from the Atlantic Ocean into parts of northern New England.

But meantime, enjoy this spectacular weather.



Go out and enjoy during this Indian Summer.

There's early foliage viewing to enjoy

Gorgeous Weather Ending, But Returning Soon To Vermont

We can probably nominate this past week as the most gorgeous, weatherwise, of the year in Vermont, but next week is an even stronger contender for that title.

Leaves were starting to turn under beautiful
blue skies over my St. Albans property Friday.
 

But we've got to endure a break in the gorgeousness this weekend.

That's not to say today and tomorrow will be awful. Just not wonderful.

Today, Saturday, we in Vermont face the dawn with more generally clear skies, but that won't last long. Clouds are coming in from the west, and so is rain.

I think in Vermont, most of the rain will hold off until late in the afternoon in the Champlain Valley and tonight more to the east. Winds will get gusty from the south today, reaching 40 mph in the Champlain Valley.

It's already breezy out there and leaves are flying off some of the early coloring trees. It's that time of year.

At least the timing of the cold front approaching us is good. Most of the rain will fall tonight, and it will be a fairly good soaking, at least a half inch, maybe more.

Sunday will dawn cloudy and damp and probably rainy, but things will gradually start to improve during the afternoon. We'll even start to see some sun, especially the more west you go.

And that sets us up for another stretch of wonderful September weather. With a few exceptions, this has really been a beautiful month, even if rainfall is above normal.

The first half of the upcoming week will be cool and crisp and sunny, perfect for apple picking and such. Watch out for some nighttime frosts, but you get that a lot this time of year.

The second half of next week will turn a bit warmer, but stay sunny. By then, I'd suggest heading to the hills and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, because the fall colors will really be starting to hit nicely.

I've already noticed some color, and early signs point to a vibrant foliage season. I hope your cameras are ready for a heavy workout in the next couple of weeks.

Now That Autumn's Back, Let's Guess How The Vermont Fall Foliage Will Look

While chasing storms across central Vermont Thursday, I could really notice the beginnings of fall color.

Wild turkeys enjoying the fall
foliage in Franklin County,
Vermont last October.  

Which meants its time to speculate on how the peak fall foliage will look.

The early colors I saw Thursday looked kind of blah, but of course the trees had been blasted by wind and rain and hail, so many of the few leaves that had already turned color had fallen.

Last year, the early colors were also blah, and we ended up with a beautiful, vibrant peak season. So hope springs eternal.

There's a lot of guessing, but no clear answers on what causes great fall color versus a "Meh!" season.

Scientists are studying the ins and outs of how leaves turn color and how weather influences the changes, but there's no clear answers yet.

Some experts say dry summer weather stresses trees, which in turn creates bright colors, but I've seen great foliage after a wet summer.

Other tree experts say a lot depends upon what the weather is like in September.  There's no firm conclusions, but some indications are cool, sunny, somewhat dry weather in September can lead to a brilliant October, but wet, warm weather could dampen colors.

For the past couple of days it's been extremely warm and very wet, but that hasn't lasted long. And the forecast calls for cool, dry weather for the next several days.

No matter what happens, I'm sure the color in Vermont will be brilliant as always. How brilliant compared to other years is anybody's guess, though.