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Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET

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Missouri Fall Foliage Map 2026

Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET

Peak color lands around Oct 30 in most of Missouri, but it moves 15 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.

Missouri’s season, place by place

Every place we forecast in Missouri, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.

First: Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, Oct 25. Last: Mingo Wilderness, Nov 4.

The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Nov 1. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.

The county map today

Loess BluffsSwan LakeGreat RiverBig Muddy National Fish and Wildlife RefugeClarence CannonBell Mountain WildernessPaddy Creek WildernessMark TwainMiddle Mississippi RiverWilson's Creek National Battlefield
Missouri, Sep 25 Still green to peak to past peak, the map’s own scale. Open the live map to scrub the day.

Where to go in Missouri

The destinations we cover in Missouri, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.

  1. Loess Bluffs National Wildlife RefugeMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 25 Oct best 24 to 27 Oct
  2. Swan Lake National Wildlife RefugeMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 26 Oct best 25 to 28 Oct
  3. Great River National Wildlife RefugeIllinois, Missouri
    Too earlyPeak 27 Oct best 26 to 29 Oct
  4. Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife RefugeMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 28 Oct best 27 to 30 Oct
  5. Clarence Cannon National Wildlife RefugeIllinois, Missouri
    Too earlyPeak 28 Oct best 27 to 30 Oct
  6. Bell Mountain WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 31 Oct, oak 3 Nov best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
  7. Paddy Creek WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 31 Oct, oak 3 Nov best 30 Oct to 2 Nov
  8. Mark Twain National ForestMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 1 Nov, oak 4 Nov best 31 Oct to 3 Nov
  9. Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife RefugeIllinois, Missouri
    Too earlyPeak 1 Nov best 31 Oct to 3 Nov
  10. Wilson's Creek National BattlefieldMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 1 Nov, oak 4 Nov best 31 Oct to 3 Nov
  11. Ozark National Scenic RiverwaysMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 2 Nov, oak 5 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
  12. Piney Creek WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 2 Nov, oak 5 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
  13. Rockpile Mountain WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 2 Nov, oak 5 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
  14. George Washington Carver National MonumentMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 2 Nov, oak 5 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
  15. Irish WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 3 Nov, oak 6 Nov best 2 to 5 Nov
  16. Hercules-Glades WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 3 Nov, oak 6 Nov best 2 to 5 Nov
  17. Devils Backbone WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 3 Nov, oak 6 Nov best 2 to 5 Nov
  18. Mingo National Wildlife RefugeMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 4 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
  19. Mingo WildernessMissouri
    Too earlyPeak 4 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov

When to go

Across 115 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Schuyler County around Oct 22 and last in Dunklin County around Nov 6. 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 Missouri. 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-to-late October in the Ozarks, early November in the Bootheel is how Missouri is usually described.

What actually turns

The Ozarks produce a warm fall palette dominated by gold and bronze from oaks and hickories, with sugar maples adding scarlet along the creek bottoms and sassafras glowing orange on the hillsides.

  • Sugar Maple
  • Red Oak
  • White Oak
  • Hickory
  • Sassafras

Route 19 through the Ozark National Scenic Riverways along the Current and Jacks Fork rivers is Missouri's finest fall drive, with warm-toned hardwoods lining the spring-fed waterways.

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 a week or more ahead of the south.

Oct 22 to Oct 27

Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Audrain, Buchanan, Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Howard, Jackson, Knox, Lafayette, Lewis, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Marion, Mercer, Monroe, Nodaway, Pike, Platte, Putnam, Ralls, Randolph, Ray, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan, Worth

Oct 28 to Nov 3

Barry, Barton, Bates, Benton, Bollinger, Boone, Callaway, Camden, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Cass, Cedar, Christian, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, Dade, Dallas, Dent, Douglas, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Henry, Hickory, Howell, Iron, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Laclede, Lawrence, Lincoln, Madison, Maries, McDonald, Miller, Moniteau, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Oregon, Osage, Ozark, Perry, Pettis, Phelps, Polk, Pulaski, Reynolds, Scott, Shannon, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Francois, St. Louis, St. Louis city, Ste. Genevieve, Stone, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wright

Nov 4 to Nov 6

Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Stoddard

How this map is madeThe trees, the elevation, this September’s weather and reports from the ground, scored against 68 forest cameras. Median error 6 days.

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