Go West, Young Man!

Autumn Blaze Maples
Ben's Creek Nursery's Iles Farm

Go west, that is, if you want to see some fall leaf colors in early October. From where I sit in the North Carolina piedmont,  the leaf changes are spotty at best.The real action, where you'll see some of the most spectacular leaf colors on the planet, is west of here: the mountains!

 

At my elevation, a mere 387 feet above sea level, leaf change is predominantly determined by temperature: the colder it is, the faster the leaves will change. In the mountains, however, the shifting weather patterns only nudge things along. It is elevation that primarily determines leaf change.This means that if you're a leaf watcher, you can choose your best time to travel, and know that somewhere in the mountains, at some elevation, you can find some peak colors a-happening.

So where and when should you plan to go to the mountains to catch this dazzling array?

Click 'MORE' for more!

Here is a link to a Fall Leaf Forecast 2012 for the Asheville, NC area. For instance, the October 6th forecast tells us:

This next week, the best color will be above 3,500 feet, including many sections of the Parkway, especially the Rough Ridge and Graveyard Fields area. Rough Ridge is peak with brilliant color. Linville Falls area also has great color. Much of the Great Smoky Mountains will have peak color during the next two weeks.

Here are some teaser photos from the aforesaid Rough Ridge and Graveyard Fields:

 Read the whole forecast, and get leaf change predictions for October up to early November, together with a great number of spectacular pictures.

Another great link is to the National Park Service. Here is a color forecast for the Great Smoky Mountains. A neat feature there are the live webcams maintained by NPS; instead of relying on written reports and still pictures, why don't you just take a look at what the leaves are doing in (nearly) real time?

And if you have a few minutes, click on the tab 'NPS Air Webcams' and take a look at what some volcanoes are doing right now in Hawaii:

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park