Map shows where best fall colors are in New England right now

BOSTON - Historically, this weekend is the fall foliage "kickoff party" up north. Typically, the wave of peak fall color starts right about now in northernmost New England before making the journey southward through the month of October.

So, how's the foliage doing so far?

Here's a look at the current state of foliage in New England.

Map of fall foliage colors in New England

You've likely noticed some spotty color even around the Boston area and throughout southern New England, particularly in the low-lying areas.

The best color right now is in the highest elevations of the Green and White Mountains as well as the northern crown of Maine.

This area, in general, can be classified as moderate to high color with splashes of peak.

Honestly, it probably needs to cook for another week or so before we see widespread peak color up north.

Weekend forecast for New England

That is certainly not to dissuade you from a road trip this weekend. There is still plenty of color to see and some lovely weather to go with it. Of course, there are no guarantees weather-wise in the weekends ahead.

There will be some high clouds at times this weekend, but it will be dry and quite comfy.

The picks for the weekend are:

• The Green Mountains of Vermont up through Montpelier and Burlington
• The White Mountains of New Hampshire, essentially from Conway northward
• The northernmost reaches of Maine

If you are looking for a shorter drive, you could take your chances and head west to the Berkshires. You won't find much peak color but there should still be some very colorful areas.

Fall foliage season outlook

The outlook for the remainder of the season remains decent.

We were predicting a banner season until the recent dry spell hit in late August and early September.

That, along with some very warm days and nights a few weeks back, caused us to lower our expectations just a bit.

Still, if we can get some more typical fall weather in the weeks ahead and avoid any major wind storms, this year should be fairly high quality.

We will keep you updated each week and have some road trip picks before each weekend.

As always, if you head out and snap some pictures we would love to see and share them. Send them to weather@wbztv.com