Fall Color Starting to Show In Parts of the Lower 48

Grab the pumpkin spice and apple cider donuts, fall foliage is started to grace some areas across the United States, with more developing this week!

The latest forecast from Explore Fall (top of page) shows developing color across the Rockies, Cascades, High Sierra, and the Upper-Midwest, near the Canadian border, over the next seven days (September 8th - 14th). Recent wildfire activity in the Sierra may make color there a bit more muted or highly variable between patches of trees.

Color has already been showing some for areas in the map above (yellow areas), mostly in the Rockies and Cascades. In fact, we've seen the Bigtooth Maples change quite a bit in the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City!

The most 30 days prior to the appearance of fall color are the most important for vibrancy during the peak season, but drought conditions can also lead to more muted color or variable conditions.

For great fall color, sunny days with cool, crisp nights are preferable. Though rain is welcome at times to keep the trees from drying out.