On August 19 – just over a month ago – I drafted this blog post. The title was “Autumn Leaves in August”. I wrote:

It scarcely seems possible that autumn leaves are already beginning to emerge on Adirondack Coast hardwoods. I noticed this afternoon a maple tree along the Essex shoreline with a hair of branches festooned in orange and red autumn leaves. And riding my bicycle inland, especially as I climb higher, I pedal past maples beginning to blush and flush crimson.

Undoubtedly it’s the chilly early autumn nights that we’ve been experiencing during the last week or so that have duped the trees into fast forwarding their biological clocks. It’s plenty pretty to see sprays of fiery color in the green canopies, but I’m not terribly keen on wrapping up summer quite yet.

I delayed publishing my “Autumn Leaves in August” post until I could document the premature foliage. But the shoreline maple exhibited only the sublets hint of autumn leaves, and my camera failed to capture the hint of foreboding. I hunted for dramatic autumn leaves during my bike rides and drives, but the perfect photo continued to elude me.

Days turned into weeks. Travel pulled me away from the Adirondack Coast. Weeks passed, and suddenly it’s the end of September. The autumn leaves are appearing everywhere! But the I-can’t-believe-it’s-so-early factor is lost.

Some might suggest that it’s still early for autumn leaves in our neck of the North Country. Certainly it always seems early. Summer ends. Full stop. Autumn begins…

Early Autumn Leaves

Ready of not, the autumn leaves are flushing yellow, orange and red. Last year (2013) we announced the front end of fall foliage at the end of September. Also early?

As I write this article more and more leaves are changing color. The 2013 foliage season has already begun! (Essex on Lake Champlain)

The trees are starting to change color, in response to shorter days and cooler temperatures… Chilly but not freezing nights and warm sunny days bring out the brightest colors, just as in apples. A rainy summer has no effect on the color, nor does the width of caterpillar stripes. (Rob Ivy, “2013 Adirondack Fall Foliage Season Begins“)

And we were about two thirds of the way through October before we hit peak fall foliage last year.

Empowered by ever more ubiquitous social media, city friends pop in daily to ask, “Have you hit peak fall foliage yet?” I post photos. I opine. I celebrate leaf piles and compare this season to past seasons… (Essex on Lake Champlain)

Is the foliage changing earlier than usual or is it just my perception?

As August wanes across the six-million-acre park, the leaves begin to change, eventually bursting into full color beginning in the Adirondack Mountains in early September. The best time to see fall foliage in the Adirondacks is late September into early October. The progression of color change decreases steadily in elevation, until mid-to-late October when the Adirondack Coast of Lake Champlain and Lake George begin to shed the last of the season’s vibrant colors. (Official ADK Region Tourism Site)

Share your thoughts in the comments below and submit photographs of any notable autumn leaves that you witness. Thanks!

Frank Sinatra’s “Autumn Leaves”

I am reminded of the classic “Autumn Leaves” which has been recorded by Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton and many others. I’ll include the lyrics (as sung by Frank Sinatra) and an appropriately august recording by Edith Piaf if you’d like a little help getting into the mood for autumn leaves a few weeks early.

“Autumn Leaves”
by Frank Sinatra

The falling leaves
Drift by my window
The falling leaves
Of red and gold
I see your lips
The summer kisses
The sunburned hands
I used to hold
Since you went away
The days grow long
And soon I’ll hear
Old winter’s song
But I miss you most of all
My darling
When autumn leaves
Start to fall
Since you went away
The days grow long
And soon I’ll hear
Old winter’s song
But I miss you most of all
My darling
When autumn leaves
Start to fall

Edith Piaf’s “Autumn Leaves”

Related articles

• Early Autumn (rosslynredux.com)
• 2013 Adirondack Fall Foliage Season Begins (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Peak Foliage? (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• The Autumn Leaves… Fabulous Foliage (theretiringsort.com)
• Leaf Peeping in the High Peaks (rosslynredux.com)
• Fall foliage soon arrives in New England (vistaphotography.wordpress.com)