Fall Foliage Forecast

We are halfway through the fall foliage season and many of Pennsylvania’s forests are turning every shade of October: the vivid gold of sugar maple, beech, and birch; the russet and rich brown of oaks; the warm orange and deep crimson of sassafras and black gum trees.

If you’re looking for a weekend getaway, you might consider road tripping along Route 6 to a small, scenic northeastern town, since much of that area is showing peak colorPeaking this week.. Small boroughs and towns offer novelty, charm, and a slower pace of life to their seasonal visitors, but fall foliage-seeking crowds can cause issues for locals who live there year-round.

How foliage tourism impacts small towns

Jim Thorpe, a river-bordered borough in Carbon County tucked away in a southern valley of the Pocono Mountains, is hosting an annual fall foliage festival this weekend. The town has organized this seasonal downtown fete for at least 10 years, according to the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, and it is often packed.

“A lot of folks really plan their travel around peak colorPeaking this week., because they just love the beauty of the leaves,” said Christopher Barrett, the president and CEO of Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. Barrett estimates that up to 70,000 visitors come through Jim Thorpe’s visitor center during October.

Tourism plays a significant role in this region’s local economy. In the greater Pocono Mountains region – which includes Carbon, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne Counties – tourism provides over $1,500 per person in “direct tax support for residents,” according to a 2024 Economic Scorecard for the Poconos by East Stroudsburg University. Additionally, the travel and tourism industry supports nearly 1 out of every 2.6 jobs, according to a 2022 report prepared by Tourism Economics for the Pennsylvania Office of Tourism.

While tourism does bring money into small towns like Jim Thorpe, it also leads to issues for locals who live there year-round. In posts made over the last six months, Redditors on the r/Pennsylvania subreddit have commented how parking and traffic in Jim Thorpe were extremely frustrating during the month of October, when the town is “literally jammed with people.” One Redditor, who says they live right outside the borough, described it as “brutal” and “gridlocked” on a post five months ago, while another bemoaned it as “the nightmare weekend” on a post two months ago.

The organizations involved in the Fall Foliage Festival are aware of the difficulties around the event, according to Barrett. And the bureau is working to ameliorate them by meeting with stakeholders and coordinating shuttles to reduce the need for downtown parking.

“Those outside dollars are revitalizing our towns,” said Barrett. “But there are folks in town [for whom the festival], absolutely, it’s stressful for them.”

This week’s forecast

Every county is colored based on its leaf-changing status: no changePeak is three weeks to a month away., starting to changePeak is about two to three weeks away., near peakPeak is about a week away., peak colorPeaking this week., starting to fadeStill has color, but won’t last more than a few days. and past peakAll or nearly all color gone.

Here is the state forecast for the week.

Where to go

Philly still isn’t expected to peak for two to three weeks, but the northeastern counties, as well as Somerset, Clinton, and Clearfield, are showing off peak colorPeaking this week. this week. Additionally, most northwestern and north central counties are near peakPeak is about a week away.. The best spots to admire the colors in these areas are:

We’ll be back next Friday with another forecast as the season approaches Philly. What are your favorite places to admire the autumnal colors? Send us an email at interactives@inquirer.com and a photo if you’d like to share one.