The Smoky Mountains website predicts that Vermont's peak foliage colors will be reached during the week of Oct. 7, covering the state in beautiful autumn hues.

Dry, warm days and cool nights are moving the foliage along quickly, which could mean that peak foliage across the state could be much earlier than in years past.

And, of course, in the late summer and fall, warm days with crisp, chilly evenings product the best colors as "chilly evenings without frost help trap sugars in leaves, which fuel the reds and purples ...

For two weeks last spring, students and professors from Vermont State University collected cores of snow, sea ice and permafrost to uncover more about what's hidden beneath the surface.