Some folks contend that climate change could be the reason.
"It's nothing like it used to be," said Tom Vogelmann, plant biologist at the University of Vermont and a Green Mountain State native who is among those who believe the warmer weather may be to blame for the lackluster foliage. He says autumn has become too warm to elicit New England's richest colors.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Burlington have run above the 30-year average in every September and October for the past four years, save for October 2004, when they were 0.2 degrees below average.
The warming climate affects trees in several ways. Colors emerge on leaves in the fall, when the green chlorophyll that has dominated all spring and summer breaks down.
The process begins when shorter days signal leaves to form an abscission layer at their base, cutting of the flow of water and nutrients. But in order to hasten the decline of chlorophyll, cold nights are needed.
In addition, warmer winters have been friendly to fungi that attack some trees, particularly the red and sugar maples that have historically provided the most dazzling colors.
In Vermont, where leaf peeping is big business, some 3.4 million visitors spent nearly $364 million in the fall of 2005, according to state estimates.
State tourism officials reject the notion that nature's palette is getting blander.
Erica Housekeeper, spokeswoman for the state Department of Tourism and Marketing, said she had heard nothing but positive reports from foresters and visitors alike this year.
The problem is perception, she said: Recollections of falls past become tinged with nostalgia.
"It's never quite as good as it is in our own imaginations," Housekeeper said.
But those who rely on autumn tourism - in Vermont and elsewhere - are concerned.
"The way things are going, the foliage season is the one sure thing for us," said Amie Emmons, innkeeper at West Mountain Inn in Arlington. "We book out two years in advance. It's very concerning if you think the business could start to be affected."
In Northampton, Mass., they're still waiting on fall color.
"You usually have to have a frost for the colors to come out," and as of this past week, that hadn't happened, said Mary Pelis, desk clerk at Autumn Inn.
If foliage viewing is the goal, "I wouldn't send anybody down this way yet," she said.
