It’s the most wonderful time of the year for leaf peepers.
The PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources have released its first fall foliage report of the season.
The map, which was released on Thursday, shows much of the state is in the “Starting to Change” category.
That including Pittsburgh, Southwestern PA and the Laurel Highlands.
Northcentral and northeast PA are “Approaching Best Color”, while the southeastern part of the state has “No Change”.
The Bureau of Forestry says they expect peak color for most of the commonwealth to arrive around mid-October.
“After a remarkably long spring drought, timely summer rainfall and moderate temperatures helped to green the canopy of Penn’s Woods, setting the stage for a very colorful autumn display,” the first report says.
Locally, the Butler County service forester says the leaves are starting to change in the region, including maples, black gum, Virginia creeper, shrub dogwoods and staghorn sumac are also all changing color.
Forbes State Forest in Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland Counties says maple trees are changing into beautiful “reds, yellows and oranges.”
“A nice drive now is US 322 from the Brookville area to Meadville.”
Black gum is at peak or moving past peak and most oak trees are still fully green.
Higher elevations in the Laurel Highlands are showing the best colors this week.
Those higher elevations peak about two weeks before other areas.