Natural History Wanderings

Department of Biology | Appalachian State University has a new detailed fall color report for North Carolina

Fall Color Report for Week of October 12, 2014

Well, Mother Nature hasn’t been cooperating lately.  Today was quite rainy early on, and very windy at the high elevations.  This has caused a lot of leaves to drop off, BUT, there is still great color up here in the High Country.  So, don’t be discouraged.  If you’re planning a visit, come on up!

Fall leaf colors are peaking right now below 4,500’ down to about 3,000’, which is the elevational range enveloping most of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Above 4,500’ many of the leaves have already fallen.  Elsewhere, the colors this year are spectacular.  My daughter and I rate the display this year about a 9 out of a scale of 10.  The red maples, sourwoods, sugar maples, and blueberries and huckleberries are very showy this year.  The reds are especially brilliant, and provide a striking contrast with the yellow and orange colored trees on the landscape.  Sassafras are showing bright yellow, orange and red leaves (this is one tree whose leaves can be almost any color), and the witch hazels are now bright yellow with brown streaks along the veins.  I found one cottonwood which was a bright yellow also.  Birch and tulip poplars are now quite distinctive with their yellow leaves.  Fraser magnolias, which have very large and showy leaves displayed in whorls, stand out also.  The leaves of this tree first turn yellow and then morph to a deep chocolate brown, providing a strong contrast with the other species that turn the more traditional red, orange and yellow.

The showiest displays right now are around Grandfather Mountain.  The western flank, as seen from Rt. 105, is particularly showy, although there are few places to stop and view these forests.  The forests on the eastern flank, adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Green Mountain south past the viaduct to Beacon Heights are superb; the best colors in the area so far.  As you go north toward Blowing Rock, the colors have yet to peak, although there is good color up to US 321 and then further north to US 421.  However, they are not as colorful as the forests down by Grandfather Mt.

Surprisingly, areas below 3,000’ are still approaching their peak colors.  Many of us thought that the unusually cool summer would advance the color development this year, but in fact, both here and up and down the east coast, colors are actually behind their normal time schedules.  Why this is so, we don’t know.  But it does give you more time to view the colors if you haven’t yet made a trip to do so.

As for the coming week, we will see the colors peak in the Boone/Blowing Rock area, as well as in Cashiers/Highlands as well as along the high elevations of the Parkway from the Smokies to Mt. Mitchell.  Next weekend will still have great color in most areas except those above 4,500’.  However, the weather people are calling for more rain in the coming week, so best to check ahead for weather conditions before heading out.

I’ll post an album of pictures I took today after visiting Grandfather Mountain and then driving along the Parkway back to Blowing Rock.  Enjoy!!

 To See Pictures, visit the Fall Color Guy’s Facebook page!