Post date: 10/03/2023
Fall Color Report for the Week of Oct 1, 2023This week I traveled to Roan Mountain on the NC/TN border along with a colleague from the Chemistry Department at Appstate, Eduardo de Campos, who hails from Brazil. This was his first foray to the mountain and also to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Go to the Fall Color Guy page to see explanations of the photos in the folder posted here.Roan is an easy drive from Linville, NC (about 35 minutes) and about 1 hour from Boone. Just head into TN from Elk Park, NC on US 19E, turn left at the sign for Roan Mountain State Park, and 10 miles or so later you’ll...
Post date: 09/25/2023
Fall Color Report for the Week of September 25, 2022 Today I went on a fall color excursion to Craggy Gardens and Mt. Mitchell accompanied by two of my students, Hannah Lilly, and Leigha Henson. Trees are coloring up nicely above 4,500’, although green is still dominant. However, there are individual trees in full color, adjacent to others that are just starting, which themselves are adjacent to yet others that are mostly green. In another week, if the weather remains cool, colors should be fine at these high elevations. We had an exciting encounter with a bald eagle just before we...
Post date: 09/18/2023
Fall Color Report for the Week of September 17, 2023Green! Green! Green! Green! Green! Red! Green! Green! Green!That about describes the state of the fall colors for this week. With the occasional red maple that has turned red, and the dogwoods, which are nearing peak color, the rest of the trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) and in the mountains of North Carolina, are still quite green. However, there are some signs of the upcoming fall color season, but we still have several weeks to go before we get to peak color.On Saturday I went to Craggy Gardens (about 20 miles north of Asheville...
Post date: 09/11/2023
Fall Color Report for the Week of September 10th, 2023I didn't get to post a full fall color report for this week, due to exhaustion from my bout with COVID. I'm slowly getting back to normal, so please be patient. And thanks to everyone (Everyone!) for all the kind words over the past week about getting better. I am on the mend; it just takes time!With regard to fall color updates, nothing much to report. Forests are still all green, but this coming weekend I will be checking out the highest elevations to see if things are starting up. We are having cooler days and especially cooler nights,...
Post date: 09/06/2023
Fall Color Report for the Week of September 3, 2023I’m a day late with the report for this week, but I’ve been under the weather since last Thursday with some flu-like bug and it sapped all my energy such that I was laid up all day Saturday. It unfortunately caused me to cancel my trip to Atlanta to see my son and his wife and my new grandson, but better to not give them what I got! Plus, it so wiped me out that I couldn’t have endured the long drive down. And no, it wasn’t COVID – I tested negative for that. Oh well, I’ll see them another time!The other bummer is that Spectrum and Disney are...
Post date: 09/06/2023
Fall Color Report for the Week of September 3, 2023 I’m a day late with the report for this week, but I’ve been under the weather since last Thursday with some flu-like bug and it sapped all my energy such that I was laid up all day Saturday. It unfortunately caused me to cancel my trip to Atlanta to see my son and his wife and my new grandson, but better to not give them what I got! Plus, it so wiped me out that I couldn’t have endured the long drive down. And no, it wasn’t COVID – I tested negative for that. Oh well, I’ll see them another time! The other bummer is that Spectrum...
Post date: 08/29/2023
Fall Color Report for Week of August 27th, 2023I am asked each year whether I expect this year’s fall colors to be “on time”, or whether they will be late. I admit that I often forget when they occurred in previous years, so I have a difficult time answering this question.Last year I went back over all my fall color reports from 2008 to 2021 (14 years’ worth of reporting) to determine what week I told people would be peak color time for each of those years. This year, I have added in 2022 and revised the statistics. The numbers I report are for the Boone-Blowing Rock drive along the Blue...
Post date: 08/29/2023
Fall Color Update – August 24, 2023Drought is always a factor potentially affecting fall leaf colors. The NC Climate Office has just put out their latest Climate Blog and it shows that the middle and eastern portions of the state are suffering from drought now, but the mountains are not. We have had above average rainfall actually and soil moisture levels are doing fine.It's hot now, even for the mountains, but a cooling trend is coming over the weekend and into next week. It may even bring some rain. So, at this point, things are still looking good for the upcoming fall color season.https://...
Post date: 08/22/2023
Fall Color Report for Week of August 20, 2023It’s still quite early in the season to be making any definitive predictions about the fall colors we’ll get in a few months, but there are some signs to take note of. First off, we are not in a drought situation. We’ve had abundant rain this summer, the soils are quite moist, and the trees aren’t showing any signs of distress. Of course, that could change between now and the end of September, but so far so good. Second, the long-range NOAA forecast (see attached figure) suggests that we will have slightly elevated temperatures through...
Post date: 10/11/2022
Today was one of the most spectacular fall color days we have had in the High Country in several years. The weather was perfect, starting off with temperatures in the mid-30s and only getting to the mid-50s, with clear blue skies. I’ll say up front that we are at peak color above 3,000’ elevation in the Blowing Rock to Chestoa overlook section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Colors will continue looking good through to next weekend, although there is a forecast for rain and possible thunderstorms on Thursday. If that happens, we may lose some leaves for next weekend, but hopefully they will be...