Fall Foliage With TR27: 2025 Season Kickoff (09.01.25)

By awesomest_27 9/01/2025 10:35:00 PM

2025 Season Kickoff

Update 1 of 2025 season of Fall Foliage With TR27

09.01.25

Happy Labor Day! Today is the earliest Labor Day can ever be on the calendar, but it is also the 1st day of meteorological fall and thus the 1st day of the 2025 season of Fall Foliage With TR27.

Before we start, I must note that highs listed will be ones recorded at the KMAEASTH95 PWS weather station in downtown Easthampton, MA, due to the POTENTIAL shutdown of the KCEF weather station at Westover AFB in Chicopee, MA which has been out of commission since 8/29/25 and is no longer reading as of 9/1/25.

This weather station's results are UNOFFICIAL but I will use them anyways because the readings they give are very close to actual highs that were recorded at Westover AFB 8/29 and prior.

Anyways, for today, day 1:

High: 75°F

Average: 77°F

(-2)

I will use a color coded scale to represent the deviation of temperatures as the season progresses, being noted by this:

-21-: Unheard of (21+°F below avg)

-20 to -11: Below normal (11-20°F below avg)

-10 to -6: Slightly below normal (6-10°F below avg)

-5 to +5: Normal (within 5 degrees above, below or at average)

+6 to +10: Slightly above normal (6-10°F above avg)

+11 to +20: Above normal (11-20°F above avg)

+21+: Unheard of (21+°F above avg)

Today's weather was how September should start: A nice, cloudy, easy day with temps in the mid-70s. Honestly, a Labor Day without blazing sunshine is honestly great for those who wanted to spend one last day at the water park before they all shut their gates until May tonight without having to worry about being blinded or getting hot while waiting in line.

Today's weather was clearly average for this time of year, which is great considering how many extremely cold/warm days we've had in recent years.

Currently, the 14 day forecast (Sep 2-15) expects these temps: (we want to have as many temps in black/normal as possible, going way below normal like 8/20 is a nuisance for those who want to enjoy the last of the warm weather but going way above normal is bad for the planet and throws people off when it's supposed to be 50s/60s and NOT 80s like it was in Oct/Nov 2023 and 2024 and gets them upset when the weather flips back to what it SHOULD be at that time of year)

Basically, throughout the fall, for highs, this is what we should be looking at.

Pre-equinox: 70s/80s

Equinox to Columbus Day: 60s/70s

Columbus Day to Halloween: 50s/60s

Halloween to Thanksgiving: 40s/50s

After Thanksgiving: 30s/40s

9/2: 🌤️ 80/50

9/3: 🌤️ 79/52

9/4: 🌤️ 80/60

9/5: 🌧️ (43%) 81/64

9/6: ⛅ 79/54

9/7: ⛅ 73/49

9/8: 🌤️ 72/45

9/9: 🌤️ 73/48

9/10: ⛅ 76/50

9/11: ⛅ 73/50

9/12: ⛅ 77/51

9/13: ⛅ 76/50

9/14: ⛅ 75/49

9/15: ⛅ 72/50

As you can see, despite some unusually cold nights in the 40s expected just after Labor Day (the average low doesn't hit the 40s until Sep 26), the forecast looks relatively normal, for now, except for the fact that we only get 1 rain chance in 14 days, which is not great considering we've started to have a lack of rain compared to earlier this summer when we had a surplus of it.

Anyways, below is the slides and foliage pics taken today, 9/1/25. I hope you enjoy this new format!

As we begin, the majority of foliage is still dark green, what I call "height of summer", and this will likely continue for most, if not all of September. Considering the forecast for the entirety of the first half of the month shows highs all above 70°F, we're still solidly in warm weather territory, so as long as temps stay warm, it will take longer for the trees to transition to fall colors, though since daylight is getting shorter, even if it's 80°F outside like it was last October (and even November!) on numerous occasions, they'll know it's fall due to the lack of daylight outside.

Last year, this tree was still changing into November. Just figured I'd mention that, it'll be a while before this one changes! In fact, most of these trees downtown didn't have visible fall color until probably Columbus Day at the earliest and they kept the color well into November.

Slight changes, but nothing major, yet...

The mountain is still solidly dark green. With temps in the 70s/low 80s and most foliage still dark green, it still feels more like summer than fall, but it won't be long, unless we get another 2023/24 situation...

Starting to see some yellow here... 😁

Approaching the HCC campus. Definitely starting to look like fall here!

Probably the best color near the HCC campus right now, this was leaving the campus via the R41 PVTA bus, all of which are free until 6/30/26! (Except the B79, but that's a special bus)