Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.
1 report came in from Prince George's County this week, 1 of them at peak. Our date held. See the county on the map.
That’s 3 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Plan this tripIf you can only come on certain days
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Saturday 31 October to Sunday 1 November
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
- Where to drive
- Skyline Drive, about 75 miles · Route 39 (Goshen Pass), about 142 miles
- What turns
- sweetgum, blackgum, red maple, water oak, white oak
What turns, and when
- sweetgum20%
- blackgum20%
- red maple20%
- water oak20%
- white oak10%
- sassafras10%
Also named across Maryland, outside what the canopy read measures here: Tulip Poplar, Hickory.
Western Maryland's Allegheny ridges turn gold and russet with oaks and hickories while sweetgums in the Piedmont produce vivid purple and red.
Across Maryland as a whole: Mid-October in western Maryland, late October to early November in the Piedmont and Eastern Shore.
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