Fall Color Report for 2013 Leaf Season in the Great Smoky Mountains

Right on time in the Smokies we have seen fall color in some random trees and bushes such as sourwood and dogwood for the past 2 weeks, and yellows in hardwoods such as oaks above 5,000 feet for more than a week.

Late summer and early fall have been a mixed bag between dryer than normal on the Tennessee side and wetter than normal on the North Carolina side. This very strange combination has mean for a bumper crop of apples, but lousy acorns due to the stress.

The fact that we have good apples has us very excited as that is usually a good indication of a great autumn for color. The fact that the acorn crop is light means that the bears will be moving around looking more for food to fatten up for the winter.

The great news for leaf peepers looking to enjoy a both long colorful fall leaf season in the Smokies is that stressed trees and bushes often produce the best fall color. The trick is not to have too much stress which can cause a tree to go from green to brown and dropping its leaves within a day or 2.

Fall Leaf Season along Newfound Gap Road

To get the best fall leaf color possible, just as the leaf is turning off sugar production, you want a cold snap to convert the sugars in leaves such as maples into bright reds and hot oranges. Not enough cold and when the green goes, all what remains are yellows - still a very pretty sight.

Some places have many of the same species of tree or bush at the same elevation with the same exposure. When this is the case, you get a mass of basically the same color all at once. The peak leaf season in that case may only be a few days, but it can be quite spectacular.

The Smokies on the other hand vary greatly in both diversity and environment. Just go to Gatlinburg and look up at Mount LeConte and you are looking at more than mile in elevation gain - the most dramatic elevation change east of the Mississippi.

You also do not have 10, or 20 different species of trees growing in the Great Smoky Mountains, you have more than 100. There are more local native tree species growing in the Smokies - most of which produce color in the fall - than there are in the entire European continent!

The timing on all the trees as to when they shut off their leaves and produce the bright colors that remain in the leaves are all different. Even for the same species of tree, since elevations, canopy cover, soil types and conditions vary so much, so does the peak leaf season for each species of tree in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Since we have hundreds of different trees with different leaf colors in the fall peaking at different times, you can see that coming to the Smokies in autumn to see the leaves change; you have a window of 2 to 3 weeks minimum when the leaf color is great.

Bad weather conditions such as an extreme drought, or a huge wind storm or rainstorm that blows down leaves can reduce this window by a week, great conditions such as light moisture when needed, light winds and real cool nights to process the sugars can extend a peak leaf season to 4 or more weeks of color.

To time peak fall color in the Smokies it depends on where you want to see it peak. Even then it is part science and park art. We all know for example that folk legends such as the position and width of the bands on our wooly caterpillars is not an accurate predictor of how cold it will be during the winter. A coin toss works even better on average!

The biggest variable is weather conditions as to when the peak begins. Leaves turn off their green color which is chlorophyll and become colorful as both light and the temperature changes. When the days become shorter, less light means less sugar is produced triggering a fall shutdown of the Chlorophyll producing parts of the leaves. Continuous bright sunny days mean that the fall season will start later and thus peak later.

Darker, cloudy and rainy day's make plants start turning into fall colors faster, thus moving the peak season start and end sooner. With all this going on, temperature has an effect too so you can see since weather patterns can change real fast in the mountains, what can look like a late peak season can turn into a normal fall peak season in days.

Right now we are just starting to peak at the highest elevations which are generally only producing yellows at around 5,000 feet. Higher points such as along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 6,000 foot range are seeing bright reds in some bushes and trees. If you are high up and looking down along the higher ridge lines, the fall colors including reds and oranges will really start to pop by next weekend.

Most people do not have the ability to be along higher ridge lines so the fall color when it moves to the middle and lower ridges will offer both better fall color long range views as the ability to be closer at the mid line where you will find many cabins and scenic pullouts so you can see the leaves with their fall colors up close in person.

The best time to enjoy peak season fall color in Cades Cove is right about when the mid range comes into color. For some reason the valley does not hold color long and f you wait too long for it to creep down the mountain, the tops of the mountains around Cades Cove are already done.

Cataloochee and the bald at Max Patch are at least a week earlier to fall peak leaf season than the lower parts of Tennessee such as Cades Cove.

Of course the best you can ask for is when the tops are at the tail end of peak, the mid and low elevations are at peak and there is a dusting of snow up top. If you are lucky enough to catch this, the contrast is thrilling and makes for postcards perfect pictures.

Long range forecasts today show the possibility of a dusting of snow in high altitudes on the 20th, 24th, 25th and the 31st. For most of this week we are expecting highs in 70's, and for the rest of the month in the 60's.

If you are coming here for a visit to see fall colors during October, pack warm clothes if you plan on going to the upper parts of Newfound Gap Road or on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is open all the way through to Virginia as we already have had lows up there in the 40's for days.

As long as the rain predicted for the 16th and the 17th is a gentle, long, soaking rain, some of the tail end of the fall color in hardwoods such as red oaks will still be visible in the Great Smoky Mountains and valleys such as in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg into November. In 2005, reds were still nice the second week in November.

The best bet to be sure to see the best fall colors in the Smokies is the 3rd week in October, you might not have full great color in the hardwoods and valleys, but you will be sure to have the mid elevations very bright and colorful. Even if a huge storm blows through, there will still be fresh fall color peaking everyday further on down below every few days.