{"id":865521,"date":"2026-09-30T05:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865521\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T05:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:18:08","slug":"fall-colors-2026-how-fall-foliage-impacted-by-the-nc-drought-when-are-the-peak-times-in-the-mountains-central-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865521\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall colors 2026 | How fall foliage impacted by the NC drought; when are the peak times in the mountains, central North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) — Fall<\/a> officially began on September 22, and one thing people get really excited for this time of the year is fall foliage.<\/p>\n

Families love to pack the car, take weekend road trip and watch nature do its fall colors thing.<\/p>\n

North Carolina is known for its impressive foliage display, especially in the mountains. The southern state gets all 4 seasons, fall is a fan favorite.<\/p>\n

The color displays can be vibrant during a good year. Years like this year could be less vibrant than a normal year.<\/p>\n

Drought Affects Color<\/p>\n

Drought conditions, that have been in place since last fall, could have an impact on the foliage this year.<\/p>\n

When in a state of drought, trees can drop their leaves earlier than normal and this can affect the vibrancy of the colors.<\/p>\n

With a lack of meaningful rainfall leading up to peak foliage, trees become stressed. Stressed trees may stop producing chlorophyl when water-starved, which can lead to leaves changing color prematurely.<\/p>\n

Under drought conditions, yellow and brown are common colors for leaves to change to. This year however, leaves may not reach the vibrant orange and red we’re used to.<\/p>\n

How Temperatures Help and Hurt<\/p>\n

Temperatures also play a role here. It has been an above average fall so far with temperatures staying very warm.<\/p>\n

Cooler temperatures, especially at night, are needed for leaves to begin changing their colors. Cooler temperatures act as a signal for the trees.<\/p>\n

Peak foliage in Central NC typically arrives in Late October to Early November in an average year.<\/p>\n

This year, peak foliage may be a little delayed.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) — Fall officially began on September 22, and one thing people get really excited for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[365154,192,79],"class_list":["post-865521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-365154","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}