Peak color, most of the stand25 SepAim for 24 to 27 Sep
In the wilderness today, Sep 25Peak color
quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple
western larch, peak Oct 8
Peak color should arrive around 24 Sep for the quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple, and around 8 Oct for the western larch.
Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Wind to 47 mph Friday. Color may come down before it turns.
Weather Hard frost Saturday night. Peak may come early and go fast.
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 Bob Marshall Wilderness Lewis and Clark County holds most of the wilderness and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 6 days later than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is peak color. Flathead County, to the northwest, is 1 day behind. Teton County, to the east, is 1 day ahead.By elevation The wilderness runs from about 4,519 to 7,589 feet. That’s 20 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 10, the low ground holds until about Sep 30, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.
7,000–8,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 1021%
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1737%
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2328%
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3014%
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 1 day 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 24 September to Friday 25 September
You’ll find it fading up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 7,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 10; down at 5,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 30. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
7,000–8,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 10
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 17
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 23
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 30
Where to drive
Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 28 miles · Going-to-the-Sun Road, about 75 miles · Skalkaho Pass (MT 38), about 108 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, serviceberry, huckleberry, western larch
What turns, and when
quaking aspen47%
Rocky Mountain maple15%
serviceberry15%
huckleberry15%
western larch6%
narrowleaf cottonwood3%
Also named across Montana, outside what the canopy read measures here: Black Cottonwood, Paper Birch.
Montana's fall is a two-act show: aspens and cottonwoods turn gold around 24 Sep, then western larches steal the finale around 8 Oct, turning entire mountain slopes amber before dropping their needles.
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. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made
