NASA recently released a time-lapse that compresses nine weeks of seasonal change in southwest Virginia into a few hypnotic seconds, and it’s fascinating to watch. From early October to early December, forests that looked full and alive drain into rust, then bare brown, before getting wiped with an early blanket of snow.
The animation pulls from satellite images collected between October 4 and December 6, 2025, using data from NASA’s Landsat missions and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites. Together, those images show the Valley and Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains cycling from late summer green through fall color and into winter, all without a single camera ever touching the ground.
This stretch of Virginia looks the way it does for geological reasons. The Valley and Ridge province formed when the supercontinent Pangea came together, compressing layers of rock into long, folded ridges separated by valleys. That ancient squeeze left behind the repeating landscape that still controls how water flows, where trees thrive, and how snow settles centuries later, NASA explains.
The timelapse catches smaller details hiding inside that bigger structure. Price Mountain flashes bright orange in early November, then drops into brown within weeks as its mostly deciduous forest sheds leaves. Northeast of there, Blacksburg keeps a steadier mix of green and gray. Ellet Valley stays green longer than the surrounding ridgelines thanks to irrigated fields, grazing land, and golf courses.
Virginia’s forests are the big star behind the color show. Nearly 80% are deciduous or mixed deciduous-pine, and the state has close to 100 native deciduous tree species. Chlorophyll breaks down as the days get shorter and temperatures fall, revealing yellow and orange pigments that were actually there all along. Some trees produce red pigments as well. The staggered timing across species turns the landscape into a glorious patchwork instead of a uniform fade.
Then winter arrives early. In December, a rare snowstorm swept through the region. Snow slid off steep ridges, pooled in valleys, and totally redrew the landscape. By the end of the month, Blacksburg logged 8.6 inches of snow, well above its December average, according to the National Weather Service.
Nine weeks vanish in seconds, and yet so much changes. If that’s not a metaphor for life, I don’t know what is.