Where did summer go? Wednesday is the first day of autumn, but what colors will the warm air we've been experiencing bring?

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines said it's a possibility warm temperatures could hinder the colors."It may hamper it some," Kines said. "I don't think it necessarily means it's going to be a disaster."Kines said other factors affect the color, one of those being what happened during the growing season."The growing season was fine as far as rainfall; you would expect some good color," he said.Another factor Kines said comes into play is the warm weather."You don't want a lot of warm weather during the September into October months," he said. "That tends to diminish the colors some."One of the hottest early Septembers on record is slowing the seasonal cycle when leaves turn from green to breathtaking reds, oranges and yellows, and draw visitors in droves to northern New England.The season is delayed elsewhere. Foliage reports for Vermont and Maine were mostly green this week, while New Hampshire reported some color in the north and anticipated peak color at the end of October. This time last year, northern Maine was approaching its peak.In Vermont, where an estimated 3.5 million people visit each fall, Burlington temperatures have soared into the 80s and 90s - the city's second-warmest early September on record.Here, Kines said that the nights, while they haven't necessarily been chilly, have been cool on the whole, which he said helps."When it's all said and done, while the autumn colors might not be the most vivid that we've ever had, I still think it's going to be decent for the fall foliage," he said.However, Kines said any kind of frost can knock the leaves off the trees, and would certainly diminish the colors."And we haven't had the frost and the real windy weather either," he said.As we get into the late stages of September and early October, Kines said it's imperative to avoid a rainstorm accompanied by wind."Those two combinations would knock a lot of leaves off the trees," he said.In general, Kines said that the current weather pattern we're in falls somewhere between not quite the best, and not quite the worst."I think the number one factor going into the changing of the colors of the leaves is the diminishing day light," he said.Business leaders in Jim Thorpe, known for its beautiful fall foliage that attracts tourists from all over, certainly hope the leaves remain as colorful as possible.As Randall Sellers, president of the Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency, explained, "We're sort of in the middle of the leaf changes, we're kind of right on that early- to mid-October edge."Sellers said this year's festivities kick off Sunday, with the Jim Thorpe Victorian Home & Garden Tour.From there, it's the fall foliage season, complete with free music, arts and crafts, kids activities lots of food, and train rides, he said.Sellers, who owns Sellers Books at 101 Broadway St. in Jim Thorpe, said the first three weekends of October are paramount to the success of Jim Thorpe, due to the widespread tourism the colorful fall foliage attracts each year."October is our third busiest month of the year behind July and August, at least for my business," Sellers said. "It's a very important month for Jim Thorpe."Sellers lauded the Lehigh Gorge. "You can't find a better place to enjoy the foliage than the Lehigh Gorge. It's such a beautiful place. Jim Thorpe is the gateway to the Lehigh Gorge."To make their stay in Jim Thorpe more pleasurable, Sellers said there is a shuttle from Mauch Chunk Lake Park, where people can park up at the lake and utilize a shuttle service that runs in town all three weekends."We love to invite people from up here," he said. "People come from all over to see the leaves in the Lehigh Gorge and Jim Thorpe."The Associated Press contributed to this report.