Peak color lands around Oct 30 in most of Kentucky, but it moves 11 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
Kentucky’s season, place by place
Every place we forecast in Kentucky, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Oct 22. Last: Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Nov 5.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Oct 31. 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 Kentucky
The destinations we cover in Kentucky, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- Too earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
- Ohio River Islands National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 24 Oct best 23 to 26 Oct
- Cumberland Gap National Historical ParkToo earlyPeak 27 Oct, oak 30 Oct best 26 to 29 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 28 Oct best 27 to 30 Oct
- Clifty WildernessToo earlyPeak 28 Oct best 27 to 30 Oct
- Camp Nelson National MonumentToo earlyPeak 30 Oct best 29 Oct to 1 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 31 Oct best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
- Beaver Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 31 Oct best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
- Green River National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Partnership AreaToo earlyPeak 31 Oct best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
- Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical ParkToo earlyPeak 31 Oct best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 1 Nov best 31 Oct to 3 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Clarks River National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 4 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Reelfoot National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 5 Nov best 4 to 7 Nov
- Fort Donelson National BattlefieldToo earlyPeak 5 Nov, oak 8 Nov best 4 to 7 Nov
When to go
Across 120 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Lewis County around Oct 25 and last in Hickman County around Nov 5. Most of the state peaks near Oct 30.
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 13 long-running forest monitoring sites in this part of the country and publish what it got wrong.
This autumn is running 6 days late in Kentucky. 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.
Mid-October in the eastern mountains, late October to early November in the Bluegrass is how Kentucky is usually described.
What actually turns
The Cumberland Plateau and Daniel Boone National Forest produce a warm palette of gold tulip poplars, bronze hickories, and deep red sugar maples against sandstone cliffs.
- Sugar Maple
- Tulip Poplar
- Red Oak
- Hickory
- Sweetgum
Red River Gorge in Daniel Boone National Forest stages some of the most dramatic fall color in the Southeast, with natural arches framed by maples and hemlocks.
Worth the drive
Pike County in eastern Kentucky is deep in the heart of the Appalachian coal country, but the surrounding mountains of the Pine Mountain range produce excellent fall color that is almost completely undiscovered by the tourist economy. The ridgelines of oaks, hickories, and maples turn warm gold and scarlet in late October, and Breaks Interstate Park on the Virginia border contains the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi.
Every county, by peak week
Latitude does most of the work here: color moves south at about two days per degree, so the north of the state turns 4 days ahead of the south.
Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carter, Fleming, Gallatin, Grant, Greenup, Harlan, Kenton, Lewis, Mason, Menifee, Pendleton, Robertson, Rowan
Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bell, Bourbon, Boyle, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Butler, Caldwell, Carroll, Casey, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Daviess, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Garrard, Grayson, Green, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Hart, Henderson, Henry, Hopkins, Jackson, Jefferson, Jessamine, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Larue, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lincoln, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Madison, Magoffin, Marion, Martin, McCracken, McCreary, McLean, Meade, Mercer, Metcalfe, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Nicholas, Ohio, Oldham, Owen, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Scott, Shelby, Simpson, Spencer, Taylor, Todd, Trimble, Union, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Whitley, Wolfe, Woodford
Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, Trigg
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