Will Middle Tennessee's soggy summer make for vibrant fall foliage?
Autumn is still a couple of months away, but how is Middle Tennessee's wet summer going to impact our fall foliage?
📧 Have breaking news come to you: →
spoke with Peter Forister, who is the media manager for Explore Fall. Explore Fall predicts the timing of when fall foliage will peak across the United States.
According to Forister, last year's fall colors were not great. He said the drought conditions in late summer and early fall were the main cause for the muted colors.
One year ago, much of Middle Tennessee was experiencing drought, and it only worsened in August. This year, there are no areas experiencing drought conditions.
Forister said we typically see peak fall colors in mid to late October, and in order to get the brightest colors, there will need to be less rainfall.
'Really, the best thing for the vibrant colors is an average amount of moisture and then a cold snap that happens right on time, mid-October, and that really just pushes the trees into the mode very quickly,' Forister told News 2.
⏩
Forister said if we continue to see above-average rainfall, peak fall colors will be delayed and muted. He said we could also see muted colors if we experience drought between now and mid-October.
Last year, despite the drought conditions, there were still spots with great color. Here are some pictures that viewers sent us in 2024.
Don't forget to take the power and reliability of the WKRN Weather Authority with you at all times by downloading the News 2 Storm Tracker app.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Family of 3 killed in US state of Tennessee as heavy rains and flash floods wreak havoc
At least three people from the same family were among those killed during heavy rain and flooding in Tennessee, as submerged roads caused chaos and led to dramatic rescues of people trapped in their cars, authorities said Wednesday. The three, a mother, father, and child, were killed when saturated ground caused a large tree to fall in the Chattanooga suburb of East Ridge just after midnight, Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management spokesperson Amy Maxwell said. Authorities said they found another body on Wednesday while searching for a man who was swept away when he ran past firefighters and a barricade blocking a flooded road on Tuesday, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department. Local police and a medical examiner are expected to determine the cause of death, US media reported. People were stuck in vehicles and homes At a news conference on Wednesday, officials said they didn't expect so much rain and flooding to hit so quickly. At one point, there were 60 vehicles on the flooded interstate, said Chris Adams, director of emergency management for Hamilton County. Some first responders were carrying people on their backs who couldn't move well through the water and placed them on the raised highway divider, Adams added. 'We all know to 'turn around, not drown,' but when you look at it and it's 2 inches deep, and then next thing you know it's 4 feet deep, that's something you've never seen before,' Adams said. The flooding prompted rescues of people stuck in homes and swamped vehicles, officials said. Some six million people were under a flood watch through Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service, which also warned of the potential for training storms, particularly over already saturated terrain, and sporadic flash flooding with tropical-like heavy rains. Heavy rains triggering floods across US Chattanooga's airport recorded more than 6.4 inches (about 16 centimetres of rain Tuesday, marking the second-wettest day recorded for the city dating back to 1879, according to a social media post by the National Weather Service in Morristown. The highest single-day total was nearly 9.5 inches (24 centimetres) in September 2011 from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, the weather service said. Chattanooga Fire Department officials said their crews had to rescue people trapped in vehicles and residents stuck in their homes. Although flooding closed parts of Interstate 24 in the area, it reopened once floodwaters receded, authorities said. Related Heatwaves, floods and sea level rise: UK weather extremes are increasing, Met Office confirms Two people dead, 10 others injured in explosion at US Steel plant in Pennsylvania This summer, parts of the US are seeing more flash flooding, as record-breaking rains pour in some regions, something scientists attribute to climate change brought on by pollution from fossil fuels. Last month, the US National Weather Service had already issued over 3,600 flash flood warnings nationwide, nearly equal to its annual average. And according to the latest weather forecasts, several areas of the US will see pockets of severe thunderstorms during the weekend, increasing the possibility of lightning, gusty winds, and flash flooding.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
3 dead, 1 missing as flooding in southern Tennessee prompts Chattanooga to declare state of emergency
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Three people have been killed, and one person remains missing after severe weather and flooding slammed the Chattanooga area in Tennessee on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. According to the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, saturated ground from storms caused a large tree to fall on a car in the 1100 block of South Moore Road in East Ridge early Wednesday morning, killing two adults and a child. Chattanooga officials said search efforts are continuing for a man last seen in floodwaters on East Brainerd Road on Tuesday night. How To Watch Fox Weather Weston Wamp, the mayor of Hamilton County, Tennessee, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday evening as emergency workers conducted water rescues and floodwaters inundated dozens of roads. Wamp said Wednesday that he met with Office of Emergency Management officials and East Ridge first responders to survey flood damage and to discuss the next steps in response and recovery. More than 6 inches of rain fell in Chattanooga on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, the city's second-wettest day on record, as thunderstorms dropped heavy rain ahead of a cold-front that moved through the region. Download The Fox Weather App The Chattanooga Fire Department reported conducting numerous rescues, including pulling stranded drivers from vehicles and assisting residents trapped inside homes as water levels rose rapidly. One of the hardest-hit areas appeared to be along Interstate 24 southeast of Chattanooga, where floodwaters several feet deep forced crews to close the highway in both directions. Emergency managers said at least one storm shelter was opened at a local recreation center to assist residents displaced by the flooding. "Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads," the NWS said in its Flash Flood Warning bulletin. "Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Move to higher ground now. Act quickly to protect your life." First responders urged drivers to avoid flooded roadways, especially during nightfall when water depths are harder to gauge. Just 6 inches of moving water can knock an adult off their feet, while a foot of floodwater can cause most vehicles to stall and even be carried away. The FOX Forecast Center attributed the deluge to abundant moisture streaming northward from the Gulf, combined with the hilly terrain of the southern Appalachian region, which can enhance convection. Know Your Flood Terminology: What Flood Watches, Warnings And Emergencies Really Mean The storms responsible for Tuesday's flooding were part of a broader unsettled pattern across the Southeast that is expected to persist for a few more days. More periods of heavy thunderstorms are expected Wednesday, according to the NWS office in Morristown. A flood watch remains in effect through Wednesday for parts of southwest North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Once the precipitation departs, forecasters expect temperatures to climb, with highs reaching the 90s and heat indexes approaching 100 article source: 3 dead, 1 missing as flooding in southern Tennessee prompts Chattanooga to declare state of emergency
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Record Chattanooga rainfall leaves 3 dead, prompts state of emergency
Torrential rain slammed the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area Tuesday night, leading to water rescues, flooded roadways, and toppled trees. In East Ridge, a suburb just south of the city, a falling tree crushed a car after midnight, killing a man, woman and their child, according to the Associated Press. Hamilton County's mayor declared a local state of emergency after downpours shattered Chattanooga's daily rainfall record. "Officially at the airport, Chattanooga had 6.42 inches of rainfall yesterday, with most of that falling between noon and 8 p.m.," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said. "That was a record amount of rainfall for the date, easily breaking the old record of 1.93 inches of rainfall that fell on August 12, 2013." An AccuWeather Ambient weather station in Rising Fawn, Georgia, south of Chattanooga, reported 8.39 inches of rain during the event. More storms to the west of the city Tuesday morning caused flood warnings between Tullahoma and South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Roads were also reported underwater near Lynchburg. A flash flood watch is in effect for much of central and eastern Tennessee into early Wednesday night as more showers and thunderstorms can occur today into tonight, and some of them can contain additional flooding downpours. More showers and thunderstorms are expected across the eastern part of the state through the weekend, Pydynowski says. Storm coverage will be more widespread Thursday, then become less active on Friday and the weekend. Solve the daily Crossword