For the next two months, many New Yorkers are turning into Martha Stewart and obsessing over one thing — fall foliage!
While we wait for the leaves to reach their peak in the five boroughs, we can escape the urban chaos to watch the colors upstate.
And New York state is now lending a helping hand with its weekly foliage report and map detailing leaf-turning status around the state.
It’s put together using dispatches from about 65 volunteer leaf peepers — all major arbor enthusiasts — to get the most accurate data.
“They go out every week and take a look at the foliage and report back on the colors they’ve seen and the amount of colors they expect to be seeing on the coming weekend,” says Eric Scheffel, a spokesman for I Love New York, part of the state’s tourism office.
The most recent report (they change every Wednesday) says brilliant peak colors are expected this weekend in the Adirondacks, particularly around Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, both of which are about a five-hour drive from the city.
That’s good news for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I love coming to the Adirondacks, I always have,” he tells The Post. “I remember spending entire weekends here with my family as a kid, fishing with my dad and my brother, Chris, and not wanting to leave.”
Cuomo, a father of three who grew up in Queens, adds, “I’ve been bringing my girls up here all their
lives to spend quality time, and we have a whole catalog of beautiful family memories because of it. I still sneak up once in a while to take it all in.”
“This is the weekend to go,” addss Weather Channel meteorologist Jen Carfagno. “There will be some great color shows out there, especially if you go up a little bit in the mountains or go a little bit farther north.”
But, leaf lovers beware: The state’s report also calls this season’s color changes “somewhat sluggish,” and Carfagno says that is because New York suffered its hottest September on record, delaying peak color by about two weeks.
“The intensity of the color and the length of time the leaves stay on the trees depend on the weather,” she says. And she admits the leaves won’t be quite as eye-popping this year.
“If you were able to collect the leaves and compare them from year to year, I think this year’s leaves might not be as vibrant or as bright.”
Ideal weather conditions for fall leaves are about the same as for a good night’s sleep, says Carfagno. “You don’t want it to be too warm, you don’t want it to be too cold. You need cool nights and bright, warm, sunny days to get that perfect recipe for fall color.”
New Yorkers are, after all, big dreamers.
Additional reporting by Billy Heller