Summer ended on Friday morning. Brrrr! Now that it’s cold, it’s time for colorful fall foliage, right?

Some reports say western Pennsylvania won’t have pretty leaves this fall, others say we will.  One thing is certain, though. The leaves stayed green longer than usual.

Twenty years ago our fall foliage reached its peak around October 15 but today — only one day before the 15th — the leaves have just begun to change.  We had the same situation last year as shown in my photo taken at Moraine State Park on 15 October 2017.

Delayed timing makes it hard to know when fall color will reach its peak but the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry (DCNR) is here to help.  Check out their Fall Foliage Guide complete with an interactive map and weekly reports.  The October 11-17, 2018 forecast map is shown below (yellow means “approaching best color”). Click here or on the caption to see the full report.

Don’t worry if you haven’t gone “leaf peeping” yet in western Pennsylvania.  You still have time to see fall colors this month.

(photo by Kate St. John, Screenshot from the Pennsylvania Fall Foliage Report, October 11-18, 2018, PA DCNR; click on the caption to see the original)