Despite recent severe weather, this year’s fall leaf forecast for Western North Carolina is looking bright. Here’s when colors will be at their peak:
The fall colors of red, orange and yellow will be best at high elevation in mid-October says Beverly Collins, who teaches biology at Western Carolina University.
“I think our color change at Cullowhee, which will be at about 2,000 feet, will be at about end of October,” Collins said.
Warm temperatures and excessive rain from the recent tropical storms have not helped the leaves which are brightest in the crisp fall air.
“Where its been a little bit rainier — actually a lot rainier — and warm, the colors are likely to be pretty but not spectacularly bright,” Collins said.
However, the current climate will extend leaf season into late November.
“Our colors have been changing a bit later and I expect that trend to continue,” Collins said.
The leaves change at different times based on tree type and elevation. At the highest elevation are usually evergreens and below those are hardwoods like maple and birch trees.
“Trees that turn yellow and red and because they are higher elevation they turn earlier,” Collins said.
Collins says that this extended season of fall colors could be here to stay thanks for climate change.
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