This year's fall foliage season was one to remember. Brilliant yellows, glowing oranges, and deep reds and burgundies provided a spectacular long-lasting show, particularly at lower elevations. It was a welcome reminder of just how beautiful autumn can be.

Similar to forecasting this winter's weather, predicting fall foliage seems to be an academic exercise at best. It's generally believed that the conditions producing the best fall foliage occur when trees receive ample sunshine and precipitation, followed by cool autumn nights. These conditions help produce vibrant colors, while an early or hard frost can damage leaves, hasten their fall, and shorten the foliage season.

I have a hunch that some of the answers to a prolonged fall foliage season may literally be “blowing in the wind.” In some years, things seem to be progressing nicely until a few squalls blow through and throw autumn's palette to the ground. Another condition that can bring the foliage season to a premature end is rain, which we certainly didn't get much of this year. Rain may be beneficial when it comes to watering thirsty tree roots, but it hardly helps foliage when raindrops strike leaves like little meteors, knocking them to the ground.

Leaves become increasingly fragile as they begin to senesce, or age and prepare to separate from the tree, while changing color in the process. So far, many areas seem to have experienced relatively little wind or rain, along with only a handful of frosty nights. These conditions allowed enough time for the leaves to peel back their green facades and show off their yellows, reds, and even burgundies.

Oaks seemed to be the best all-around performers this year, since their leaves tend to last longer. Maples, on the other hand, didn't seem as brilliant, especially in the Catskills, where they were rather drab to begin with before eventually blowing away. I'm not sure why, but perhaps too much spitting rain at the wrong time during the summer contributed to the problem by spreading leaf diseases.

All in all, lower elevations, where oaks are more abundant, seemed to enjoy a longer and more brilliant foliage season than higher elevations, where maples predominate.

Below is a brief explanation of the trees behind the beautiful colors you saw earlier this fall.

Red Maple

If you’re wondering how to decipher red maple from sugar maple, here is an easier way since the bark and leaves of its look-alike (sugar maple) are so similar. Red maple contains brilliant red foliage. Younger and healthier trees were extremely fiery red this fall.

Sugar maple

Sugar maple turns yellow or golden in color. Some of the sugar maples were so golden that they seemed to light up the road in the early evening.

Striped Maple

Turns yellow like sugar maple, but not as brilliant.

Yellow birch & black birch

Yellow and black birch also turn yellow too like sugar maple. However, they aren’t normally as golden or deep yellow in color.

Aspen (poplar)

In Aspen, Colorado, aspen is a big deal, since it represents one of the few trees with fall foliage. Aspen turns yellow. While other trees have already dropped their leaves for winter, aspen’s leaves remain and begin to turn yellow much later.

Red Oak

Red oak is one of the last trees – like aspen – to drop its leaves. If the mountain behind your house is bare except a few trees with leaves, they’re most likely aspen or oak. Oaks are easy to tell apart from aspen since they turn a russet color. Oaks are not only good to preserve for benefitting wildlife (acorns), but also to prolong the foliage season.

Apple

Normally one of the last trees to lose its green foliage during fall’s transition to winter. However, this year, apple trees have been experiencing an early leaf-drop due to frequent rain and the spread of leaf diseases.

Sassafras, hickory, and white oak

I’ve never found sassafras in the central Catskills, but it does grow in the southern Catskills. I wanted to give it honorable mention here since on my commute to work, I passed one of the most golden sugar maples for a few days in a row, until I slowed down and realized it was a huge sassafras tree! Pignut hickory also stood out on my commute; it too turns yellow, but not as deep as sassafras or sugar maple. There are a few bitternut hickories along the East Branch Delaware corridor that are similar. White oak is rare near Margaretville, but does occur in a few places. It turns a deep maroon or burgundy color.

Staghorn sumac

Although not a tree, this deciduous shrub – which is often mis-identified as poison sumac – can often be found growing near road-sides, abandoned parking lots, hedge-rows, etc. It is often treated as a weed. However, it does have beautiful deep red fall foliage that rivals any red maple out there.

Low-bush blueberry

Also turns a brilliant deep red. Look for these growing on rocky areas at the edge of some hay-field, under mature red oak stands, power-line right-of-ways, or near cliff-edges.