Leaf-peepers, don’t worry. You haven’t missed Virginia’s peak fall foliage season in most of the state.
The Virginia Department of Forestry said late last week that the season “has been unusual. A short drive can reveal anything from bare branches to green canopies to spectacular foliage.”
The highest elevations of Southwest Virginia and counties bordering West Virginia have peaked, but the rest of the state has not.
The prettiest leaf colors showing up so far have been the yellows in hickory, birch, and walnut trees; oranges in sugar maples; and reds in red maple and sourwood trees, the forestry department said.
Those red and sugar maples are often seen in NoVA neighborhoods.
In the Blue Ridge and the rest of the Southwest, the colors range from patchy to 50 percent changing. Most of NoVA is in the patchy range.
In Virginia, you will find 200 miles of the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway from Shenandoah National Park south to U.S. 52/Sunbelt Road south of Fancy Gap open. But you won’t be able to travel the parkway into North Carolina. It remains closed because of damage from tropical storm Helene.
Virginia’s foliage season is a long one. Colors in Virginia tend to peak before October 31, but temperatures and rainfall can vary the dates, the weekly foliage report said.
“An interesting phenomenon has come from the early yellowing of leaves in summer drought-stressed areas. Recent rain and wind knocked off many of those leaves. The surprising result is that some areas appear greener than they did a couple of weeks ago,” the report said.
Feature image of Rockingham County foliage courtesy Virginia Department of Forestry
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