Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.
No new reports from the ground here this week.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecast
Around Uwharrie National Forest Montgomery County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Randolph County, to the northeast, is 2 days ahead.
That’s 4 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Tuesday 3 November to Wednesday 4 November
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
Where to drive
Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 128 miles
What turns
white oak, northern red oak, red maple, shagbark hickory, tulip poplar
What turns, and when
white oak31%
northern red oak23%
red maple19%
shagbark hickory12%
tulip poplar4%
sweetgum4%
Also named across North Carolina, outside what the canopy read measures here: Sourwood.
Sourwoods turn deep crimson before anything else, tulip poplars go clear gold, hickories fade to bronze, and the layered ridgelines of the Blue Ridge create that famous smoky depth of warm color.
Across North Carolina as a whole: Early October above 5,000 feet, mid-to-late October on the Parkway, early November in the Piedmont.
This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. We score it here against 16 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 7 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made
