WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. — It may still feel like summer, but fall officially arrived this week, and we're starting to see hints of color in the Carolina Mountains.
Several mountainous regions are starting to see a pop of color, including Grandfather Mountain and the mountains of Boone.
Panovich said the changing of the leaves is about two weeks late this year, but the process is underway.
"Spotty areas of fall color starting to show up at the highest elevations of the Western Carolinas. It's behind schedule but we are starting to see the change above 4500'," Panovich tweeted.
Panovich said right now it's hit or miss, and you really have to be up above 4,000 feet to see any color.
"By this time, we should be near peak color in some of those 4,000-foot peaks. That will probably not happen for another two weeks up there," Panovich said.
Panovich said this year's delay in color is very similar to last year which was very warm but much wetter.
"Here comes #Augtober, the crazy thing is even if you take 10° off of these numbers it's still way above average for this time of the year. The worse part is no rain either," Panovich tweeted earlier this week.
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