Peak color, most of the stand6 NovAim for 5 to 8 Nov
In the wilderness today, Sep 25Still green
white oak and black oak
shagbark hickory and sugar maple, peak Oct 31
Peak color should arrive around 31 Oct for the shagbark hickory and sugar maple, and around 9 Nov for the white oak and black oak.
Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
No new reports from the ground here this week.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.
Around Black Fork Mountain Wilderness Le Flore County holds most of the wilderness and is still green today. Scott County, to the northeast, is on the same day. Polk County, to the southeast, is 1 day ahead.By elevation The wilderness runs from about 995 to 2,373 feet. That’s 4 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Nov 4, the low ground holds until about Nov 8, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 1,500 to 1,750 foot band.
2,250–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 411%
2,000–2,250 ftStill greenpeak Nov 413%
1,750–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 515%
1,500–1,750 ftStill greenpeak Nov 614%
1,250–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 716%
1,000–1,250 ftStill greenpeak Nov 725%
750–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 85%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the wilderness’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the wilderness stands in it.
That’s 6 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Thursday 5 November to Friday 6 November
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
2,250–2,500 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 4
2,000–2,250 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 4
1,750–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 5
1,500–1,750 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 6
1,250–1,500 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 7
1,000–1,250 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 7
Where to drive
Talimena National Scenic Byway, about 12 miles · Pig Trail Scenic Byway (Route 23), about 78 miles · Route 7 Scenic Byway, about 108 miles
What turns
white oak, black oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple
What turns, and when
white oak43%
black oak28%
shagbark hickory15%
sugar maple14%
Also named across Arkansas, outside what the canopy read measures here: Red Maple, Sweetgum, Blackgum.
The Ozark Mountains produce a warm-toned fall of gold oaks, bronze hickories, crimson blackgums, and the occasional sweetgum burning purple and red along the creek bottoms.
This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. We score it here against 7 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 13 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made
