Weather

Fall foliage near Boston is peaking over the next few days

Leaf peepers, rejoice: Fall foliage is coming on strong in much of southern New England.

Get up close and personal with the fall foliage at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, where you can take self-guided tours and participate in family-friendly activities such as “Wildlife Bingo’’ — and it's all free. Flickr / Bill Ilott

By David Epstein

October 22, 2016

Despite the rain and wind in the forecast this weekend, fall foliage is now peaking very close to Boston with excellent color in the city and points south, according to the Foliage Network.

Knowing exactly when to go view New England’s foliage is a little tricky. Pristine viewing conditions are based on a few factors, but three things are especially bad for leaf peeping:

Freezing conditions. Cold weather quickly brings the leaves off trees. The good news is we don’t have any deep freezing conditions in the forecast for the near future.
Rain. Rain dulls the leaves, and while cloudy skies are good for photography, the rain isn’t so great. Expect some showers early Saturday, so this isn’t the best time to go leaf peeping.
Windy conditions. Wind is probably the worst thing for leaves because it strips them from the trees quicker than if they would fall on their own. Unfortunately, we’ll see some gusty winds on Sunday. This means more leaves will be falling, but since we are just on the cusp of peak here in southern New England, the leaves are likely to hang on a bit.

If you are going up to northern New England, you can expect more in the way of leaf drop. This will increase quite a bit during Sunday as winds gust over 30 miles per hour at times, especially in the mountains and hilltops.

Not sure where to go? Here are 42 places to see fall foliage in New England.