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Fall Color Guy: Coming Week Best Time To Check Out High Elevations on Parkway

The sun rises on Beacon Heights (Milepost 305.2 on the Blue Ridge Parkway), as autumn foliage complements the hues of dawn. According to Dr. Howard Neufeld, fall color expert and professor of biology at Appalachian State University, this coming week could be the best time to visit high-elevation spots on the Blue Ridge Parkway, since they peak earlier than lower elevations. For more fall color, visit Grandfather Mountain's Fall Color Gallery at www.grandfather.com. Photo by Skip Sickler | Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation
The sun rises on Beacon Heights (Milepost 305.2 on the Blue Ridge Parkway), as autumn foliage complements the hues of dawn. According to Dr. Howard Neufeld, fall color expert and professor of biology at Appalachian State University, this coming week could be the best time to visit high-elevation spots on the Blue Ridge Parkway, since they peak earlier than lower elevations. For more fall color, visit Grandfather Mountain’s Fall Color Gallery at www.grandfather.com. Photo by Skip Sickler | Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation

By Jesse Wood

Howard Neufeld, an ASU biologist known as the “Fall Color Guy,” said in his latest report that “this coming week is the best time to check out the high elevations on the [Blue Ridge] Parkway, as they peak earlier than lower elevations.”

“The next two weekends will bookend the peak color season, although it could extend into the third week of October in the Boone/Blowing Rock area if the weather doesn’t get much colder. Warm weather tends to delay the onset of colors somewhat,” Neufeld wrote.

Click to Neufeld’s post to see contrasting images from 2015 and 2016 that proves his point.

Although he noted that “green is still the dominant color,” Neufeld said it appears as if Mother Nature has been playing with the color saturation in the forest like photographers are wont to do with their images.

“However, we won’t see really wide-spread colors until the next weekend. So, if the weather holds as it has for the past week, with mornings getting down into the 40s and highs in the 70s, this should push forward the color development,” Neufeld wrote.

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