Chattanooga region’s fall color season developing vibrantly
November feels a bit warmer this year than last, but that’s not getting in the way of trees trading in their summer green for more fall-like reds, oranges and yellows.
“We’ve had a pretty good color season,” Tennessee Aquarium spokesman Thom Benson said.
The aquarium offers color cruises through the Tennessee River Gorge for passengers to observe wildlife, historic points of interest and the fall colors splashing the surrounding mountains. Benson said, despite the warmer weather, he didn’t think the change in colors had been delayed, and the number of people taking part in the cruises has not dropped.
“Typically, the peak of color in our area is usually right around [Nov. 2],” he said. “We seem to be hitting that right on time this year.”
Benson said wet conditions throughout the spring and summer have added up to a really colorful fall season this year.
“Last year, with the drought, we had more yellows and golds than we did reds and oranges,” Benson said. “This year we seem to have a lot of all colors.”
National Weather Service meteorologist Jeremy Buckles also noted the difference in the amount of rain this year compared to last year.
“In an event like last year, where Chattanooga was nearly 18 inches below normal on rainfall, at that point it was drying out and killing the vegetation before it could change,” he said.
This year, however, rainfall in Chattanooga is about 10.5 inches above normal, Buckles said. That’s thanks to the remnants of multiple hurricanes that made their way through Chattanooga.
“Chattanooga got the brunt of that precipitation,” he said.
In higher elevations, fall colors have been on display since late September.
“The Smokies have been spectacular,” Dana Soehn, spokeswoman for the National Park Service. “We still have incredible color in lower elevations, especially on Tennessee side of the park.”
She said October visitation was heavy as usual, and though the temperatures were in the 70s on Friday, Soehn said it’s been a typical fall season for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In fact, she
said the park had already seen its first snow in higher elevations. That wasn’t too unusual for October, she said.
The park’s Facebook page publishes a “Fall Color Report” each Friday. It’s latest report shows “the full majesty of fall color” arriving in the Smokies,
as mid-elevations start to experience a change in colors as well, providing sightseers with a “spectacular fall color display.”