Fall Color Season is Coming!

It is now the middle of September, and already a few trees are turning at the highest elevations.  Peak color at our elevation here in Maggie Valley usually occurs about the third week of October.  However, fall color is dependent on elevation.  The peaks at 6000 feet and above will start to turn toward the end of September.  The color season then meanders down the mountains to the valleys.  Even Asheville, although it is only 850 feet lower in elevation than Maggie Valley, the peak color will usually occur about one week after our peak here in Maggie Valley.

WLOS-TV in Asheville quotes Beverly Collins, the new fall foliage forecaster for Western Carolina University, as saying “If our warmer-than-normal weather continues into fall, the colors will be later, more subdued and spottier.”   She went on to say however that if the drier than normal weather pattern persisted, and fall weather brings cooler days and colder nights, the drier than normal pattern could produce bright fall  colors.   Some long-range forecasters are predicting a cold snap around the middle of October.  That would be very good for producing colorful leaves.

So there you have it.  The colors may be more subdued, or they may be more brilliant than normal.  So the expert opinion is maybe yes, maybe no.  There is only one way to be absolutely sure of the colors—  come on up and see them for yourselves!