Some veteran foliage trackers believe that the moisture brought in from the tropics by Fred, Henri, and Ida could spell good things for the local 2021 foliage season. But Tyler Altenburger, arborist manager at Longwood Gardens, remains skeptical. Anthony R. Wood leafed through the details for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The East Coast’s annual foliage show had already started, with the first blushes appearing in northern New Hampshire at the beginning of August. It is the earliest start of an autumnal changeover in 47 years.

Now, this wave of color is spreading southward.

“You guys are in really good position through most of the Mid-Atlantic,” said Jim Salge, a meteorologist and the foliage forecaster for Yankee Magazine. “I wasn’t as hopeful until all of a sudden all these tropical storms started coming through.”

According to some estimates, the annual foliage season should start to show in the Philadelphia area in October, and continue into early November in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.

Longwood Gardens expert Altenburger, however, disagrees.

He is concerned that these tropical deluges were not enough to compensate for the long hot and dry intervals that dominated the summer.

Read more about the 2021 foliage season in The Philadelphia Inquirer.