Pennsylvania Foliage Report: Areas north approaching peak fall color, says DCNR

(WHTM) — Some parts of Pennsylvania, including counties just north of the Midstate, are starting to approach peak color, the state said in its first fall foliage report of the year.

The entire Midstate, save for Lancaster County, is just starting to change, according to the report published by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. They report no change in Lancaster County, Chester County, or the greater Philadelphia area.

However, areas DCNR says are approaching peak color are a short drive from the Capital City. Schuylkill and Northumberland counties are approaching peak color, DCNR says.

Forestry staff in the Buchanan State Forest, which covers most of Bedford, Fulton, and Franklin counties, said most forests in the area are starting to change, though areas of Bedford are farther along.

“Fulton and Franklin county forests are still relatively green,” they said.

In the Weiser Forest District, which covers Lebanon, Dauphin, Carbon, Schuylkill, Columbia, Montour, and Northumberland counties, the northern half of the region is approaching peak.

In the Tuscarora State Forest in Perry and Juniata counties, regional foliage has begun to change in some areas.

The only county at peak color right now, according to DCNR, is Tioga County. Other counties in the Pennsylvania Wilds — Cameron, Clinton, Elk, and Potter, for example — are approaching peak color as well. There, fall color “started early in the region, partially due to drought,” DCNR says.