The first day of fall is Sunday, September 22. It is not expected to feel like fall anytime soon, but when will it start looking like it in Middle Tennessee?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The first day of fall is Sunday, September 22. The forecast is for temperatures in the 90s, so it is not expected to feel like fall anytime soon, but when will it start looking like it?
If you’ve lived in the midsouth for a while, you know that summer doesn’t truly end until well into October. Temperatures routinely get into the 90s in September and Nashville has seen a temperature in the 90s as late as October 19!
Our long and hot summers lead to Middle Tennessee having one of the latest fall foliage in the country. According to explorefall.com, Middle Tennessee doesn’t see peak fall colors until late October or early November.
According to Even Fisher, owner and founder of explorefall.com, the data for average peak fall colors comes from years of reports and climate data.
Fisher said peak fall foliage can vary several weeks from year to year and it depends on the weather we get during the summer.
This summer most of Middle Tennessee has experienced a bad drought. Fisher said this can cause the peak colors to start early and be less vibrant.
“There’s been a lot of rain further west, and that seesaw is not great for the fall colors. It’s going to result in a chaotic season. I expect we will see a lot of early leaf drop, which unfortunately seems to rob the trees of their best colors,” he said.
Fisher said the heavy rain that West Tennessee saw wouldn’t help either.
“Overall, I think the colors will be more dull because of the ongoing drought as well as the heavy rain. Neither extreme is good for the fall colors. You kinda need the perfect Goldilocks zone for bright, long-duration fall foliage,” said Fisher.
Fisher said you will start noticing some change after the first week of October with the peak occurring around the first week of November.
Fisher said they will be fine-tuning the forecast over the next few weeks.
“We are constantly adjusting the map to account for real-time observations and just like a weather forecast, our forecast is not perfect within 10 days. In fact, I consider it an estimate outside of 10 days,” said Fisher.
For the latest foliage forecast, you can go to explorefall.com.
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