NC Fall Leaf Color Report for 10/8/14

   

Asheville and the Mid-elevations:  Color is beginning to progress from higher and northern locations down the mountainsides and toward the southwest. The Blue Ridge Parkway surrounding Asheville is the best place to find color this week  10/8/14  ...read more and see INCREDIBLE photos

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park:  The highest elevations are full of color with the yellows of birch, and the reds of maple, sourwood and witch hobble. Last weekend's cold snap helped push color although high winds caused some to fall along the last few miles to Clingman's Dome. With green still dominant the upcoming week should see more color continue to develop. Middle and lower elevations are still only spotted with color including the vivid red of the the Virginia creeper. Fall wildflowers are abundant along the roadside of the Park.  10/8/14 ...read the full report and see photos  

Southwest Mountains in the Nantahala and Cashiers / Highlands areas:  Some of the following trees are in full color - the Virginia Creeper, sourwood, sumac, burning bush - but the color is starting to replace the green.  Timing for fall leaf color is predicted to by "typical" for 2014, from mid to late October, with higher elevations at the beginning and lower elevation finishing last. Some individual trees are turning producing patches of yellow and red. 10/8/14

 
The High Country:  There is good color now from Linville all the way north past Blowing Rock and up into Ashe County, north of U.S. 421. The higher the elevation the better the color development. Predictions now are for peak color to develop at the usual times, from mid-October through the end of the month and lingering into November at the lowest elevations. 9/30/14 ....see photos and read more from the biology department at Appalachian State University 
 

Where to find color this weekend:  The most color can be found at the highest elevations (5,000+) such as Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens, Grandfather Mountain, Beech Mountain, Rough Ridge and Graveyard Fields.  Colors are beginning to spread during the upcoming week at the nid elevations (3,000 - 4,000 ft) including Mount Pisgah, Black Balsam, Devil's Courthouse and Waterrock Knob, southwest of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road to  Clingmans Dome and Newfound Gap in the Smokies 10/8/14