With the fall foliage season kicking into high gear and the recent one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, many people are wondering if the storm changed Appalachia’s famous autumn colors.
“The thing that I'm telling people this year is that for the trees that are still standing, they should do just fine,” Dr. Howard Neufeld, a biologist at Appalachian State University, told the Traveler in a recent interview.
Wind, rain and landslides in the wake of Helene knocked down more than 822,000 acres of trees, Neufeld said. That's equal to nearly 1,300 square miles, or one and a half times the size of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
“In those acres, if you look at just the trees, say, 12 inches or greater, we're talking anywhere from 5 to 17 million downed trees,” he added.
So while most of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail are open, that famous canopy of red, yellow and orange that blankets the region could be sparse in some spots.
Neufeld, known online as “Fall Color Guy,” lives around a popular section of the parkway in Boone, North Carolina. Nearby, all the trees were blown down on one side of a hill. But, Neufeld said, the other side is just fine.
“So what I think people will see this year, if they go up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway, is that instead of just everywhere there's fall color, there may be big swaths of fall color, and then patches where the trees blew down,” Neufeld said. “And I think that will be the difference.”
He added that when the colors peak, and how long they last, depends on weather in September and October of each year. Appalachian State’s fall color report and social media updates from Blue Ridge Parkway staff provide regular updates to help visitors plan their trip.
Here's a look at some of the Traveler's other recent coverage on Helene as well as fall colors:
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