Here's when the best colors arrive in your neck of the woods
Fall can be glorious. No season puts nature’s beauty on full display quite like fall, when the leaves gradually change from green to vibrant yellows, oranges and reds before falling from the trees to make way for winter. Every year, countless leaf peepers flock to places known for their stunning fall foliage, but planning fall activities and travel around peak times can be a little bit tricky because they can change from one year to the next.
Fortunately, there’s one handy website that predicts peak fall foliage times to help remove some of the guesswork from your next leaf-peeping adventure. Keep reading to find out when fall foliage will peak across the United States, and the ideal times to explore the leaves changing colors, one region at a time.
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How can you find out when fall foliage will peak?
To find out approximately when fall foliage will peak this season, all you have to do is use the Fall Foliage Map on SmokyMountains.com. The map displays peak foliage by date across the country. It’s helpful for anyone planning a vacation, wedding or photography adventure, but most of the time, people use it to find out when leaves will peak near their home.
How does the site determine the timing of peak fall foliage?
To predict when fall foliage will reach its peak, the site uses a similar methodology to how meteorologists predict the weather. “The backbone of the map is meteorology,” the site said in a press release.
The map relies on “a refined data model that depends on a combination of factors, including historical temperature and precipitation, forecast temperature and precipitation, the type of tree known to be prominent in that geographic region, the historical trends in that area, and user data.”
The team uses this data to make highly accurate predictions by the end of August each year, so you can plan your fall. Of course, good data is only part of the story: “Our end goal is to produce a map that’s useful and fun!”
How do you use the map?
Using the map is easy, because it’s color-coded! The first thing you’ll notice when you visit the site is that there’s a slider at the bottom that’s set to the current week. Slide it to the right to see the predicted progression throughout the fall. The color code is also user-friendly, because it matches the colors of the leaves on the trees!
- Green = No change
- Yellow = Minimal
- Light orange = Patchy
- Orange = Partial
- Red = Near peak
- Dark red = Peak
- Brown = Past peak
When will fall foliage be at its peak?
Because the U.S. is so large and has so many different climates, fall foliage reaches its peak at various times from one region to the next. While the leaves don’t start changing on the first day of fall, peak color might start sooner than you think this year.
“Forecasts show cooler-than-average temperatures and below-normal precipitation in the Northeast and Appalachians, [so] peak foliage should be arriving early and looking vibrant,” the map authors predict.
Of course, depending on where you live, you’ll likely notice leaves changing colors at different times, starting with the North, where colors change earliest, and ending in the Deep South and Florida.
Here is when each region is expected to reach peak color:
- Northern U.S.: Late September and early October
- Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes: Mid-October
- Mid-South and Central U.S.: Late October
- Deep South, Southern Plains and Florida: Early to mid-November
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Source:
- Smoky Mountains: “2025 Fall Foliage Map”
