The turn of the calendar to November and most of the leaves now on the ground let New Englanders know that “stick season” is fast approaching. Noah Kahan has popularized the colloquialism with his song that has garnered more than one billion streams, but what does it really mean in terms of weather?
The season is generally categorized by the awkward time of year when the leaves are off the tree, but there has not been a first snow to make the ground and bare branches shimmer in white, according to 7NEWS Meteorologist Kristina Shalhoup.
If looked at from a climatological perspective, stick season can actually find a home on the calendar.
Firstly, the leaves must have all fallen off the trees. The timing of peak colors in New England varies on a location-by-location basis, with the higher elevations of Massachusetts seeing peak leaves around mid-October, while lower elevations and coastal areas have to wait until the end of the month on average.
The timing of peak foliage, and of the loss of the leaves, can also vary on a tree-by-tree basis.
“Our trees have such a varied time in which they’re holding onto their leaves,” said Russell Holman, President of the Massachusetts Arborist Association. “There are trees, like a Ginko in particular, that will drop their leaves in 24 hours. So their leaves will turn yellow, and from then, when they start dropping their leaves until every leaf is off the tree, typically within 24 hours. Where trees, like an oak, they hold onto their leaves for a very long time.”
With the later leaves in mind, experts can work off a general one-to-two week buffer to go from peak to past peak, and then another one-to-two weeks to go from past peak to a few leaves left.
The second part of the equation is when the first snowflakes of the year fall, which can be a more precise timeframe.
The average first measurable snow of the season in Worcester is November 21, while the average first measurable snow in Boston is November 29. The average first inch of snow for Worcester is on November 30, while in Boston it’s December 15.
That timeline puts stick season at mid-to-late November.
“I think we need to enjoy what we have. Enjoy the fact that we have these transitional seasons that makes, you know – the summer, spring, fall – having that difference between those makes it so much better. And part of the reason we’re tough New Englanders is because we get to experience all of it,” Holman said.
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