Fall Foliage Season in the NEK

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Created on Friday, 15 September 2017 15:19

Written by Andrew Clark

AROUND THE NEK - Without question, fall foliage season is one of the most important tourist seasons in the Green Mountain State. But the weather can often times play a factor in how vibrant the colors on the trees will be.

Mark Breen, a meteorologist at the Fairbanks Museum in Saint Johnsbury says, "If there is a sunnier early to mid September you will see more reds in the foliage, if it is cloudier it tends to be more yellows."

Some considered the rain at the beginning of the month this year to be good for the tourism in the Northeast Kingdom.

"The leaves are staying on the trees, they're not being taken off," said Darcie McCann, Executive Director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce.

There is still a chance that all the leaves could be knocked off too early.

According to Breen, "if we were to get a storm up late September, early October with a lot of wind and heavy rain, it would knock down the leaves considerably, so it would shorten the foliage season that way."

McCann also talks about how technology has helped with the fall foliage season saying, "people are doing ten day forecasts on their phone."  And while McCann says the Chamber of Commerce hasn't seen it's normal amount of calls for booking for the fall season, she says it will catch up when we are closer to peak season.

"Fall has a life of it's own," said Brian Mulcahy, one of the owners of the Rabbit Hill Inn in Lower Waterford.

Mulcahy and his wife Leslie have owned and operated the Inn for nearly a quarter century and say that people who book for the leaf peeping season, tend to book a year or two in advance.

According to Leslie Mulcahy, the Inn will be 100% booked from the start of peak season until the end of October.

Mulcahy also said that the weather isn't an issue for their customers.  "They're coming from so far away, we see a lot of Texas, UK, and California, and Florida folks this time of year. So once their plans are in place it is difficult for them to change them."

Mulcahy says that fall foliage in the Northeast Kingdom is great because, "even when there's that many people up here, it's so spread out that nobody feels crowded."

Fall Foliage from NewsLINC on Vimeo.