Deciding the exact time when Gatlinburg’s trees will show the peak of color, is not an easy prediction. In years past, the time of the spectacular peak of color in the leaves has been during the last two weeks of October. Sometimes the color peaks a little later, lasting through the first week or two of November. An accurate prediction depends on several variables. The weather plays a large part in the progression of color change in the leaves. We are hoping for the ideal weather for the best peak of color in the leaves this year.
Typically, as the air grows cooler the trees reveal an exquisite treasure of color in the midst of their limbs. As we say goodbye to summer in September the long days lose their intense heat and fade into the cooler days of Autumn. The weather in the following weeks will determine just how soon the leaves will change their color. We hope for sunny, dry weather with cool nights to give us the best colors throughout the month of October, as this weather prompts Mother Nature to begin getting the trees ready for winter. With this prompt, the leaves take notice as is evident in the changes taking place. The leaves on all those many trees in Gatlinburg will begin to change from bright green to vibrant yellows, oranges, reds, and purples, like the paints on an artist’s palette! The breathtaking display that I remember from many trips to the mountains of Tennessee usually reaches the brightest peak of leaf color during the last three weeks of October, although only Mother Nature knows for sure.
Experiencing the many hillsides covered in lush trees, exploding in brilliant colors of the fall season is a breathtaking sight that can only be seen here in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Many species of native trees grow and here, including such colorful trees as the orange-red sugar maple, the red scarlet oak, bright scarlet-colored red maple, and the golden-bronze hickories. The sweetgum offers reds, purples, and yellow colors in fall and the flowering dogwood boosts a deep red color to add to the palette of color. All these trees densely growing side by side are what give us the intense fall color display we see here. When these fall colors do start to show, we will have a better idea when the leaves will show the finest peak of color. It will certainly be a beautiful sight to see!