Peak color lands around Oct 28 in most of Delaware, but it moves 2 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
Delaware’s season, place by place
Every place we forecast in Delaware, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: First State National Historical Park, Oct 26. Last: Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Oct 31.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Oct 30. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.
The county map today
Where to go in Delaware
The destinations we cover in Delaware, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- First State National Historical ParkToo earlyPeak 26 Oct, oak 29 Oct best 25 to 28 Oct
- Bombay Hook National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 30 Oct best 29 Oct to 1 Nov
- Prime Hook National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 31 Oct best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
When to go
Across 3 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in New Castle County around Oct 28 and last in Sussex County around Oct 30. Most of the state peaks near Oct 28.
Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We score the model against 7 long-running forest monitoring sites in this part of the country and publish what it got wrong.
This autumn is running 3 days late in Delaware. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.
Late October through mid-November is how Delaware is usually described.
What actually turns
Sweetgums and red maples produce the best color in this low-lying state, with the beech and oak forests of the northern Piedmont turning bronze and gold.
- Red Maple
- Sweetgum
- Tulip Poplar
- American Beech
- White Oak
Brandywine Creek State Park in the Piedmont hills north of Wilmington is the most reliable foliage spot in Delaware, with tulip poplars and beeches coloring the ravines.
Every county, by peak week
The whole state turns within about a week, so the dates below differ more by the trees in each county than by where it sits.
Kent, New Castle, Sussex
Every date on this site is a forecast: a model corrected by ground reports, carrying a measured error, published in full. Check conditions with the land manager before you travel. Last reviewed September 2026. Open the live map