Peak color, most of the stand30 SepAim for 29 Sep to 2 Oct
In the forest today, Sep 25Nearly peak
quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple
western larch, peak Oct 13
Peak color should arrive around 29 Sep for the quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple, and around 13 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 38 mph Friday. Color may come down before it turns.
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 Flathead National Forest Flathead County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. Lake County, to the south, is 8 days behind. Missoula County, to the south, is 1 day behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 3,574 to 7,139 feet. That’s 25 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 10, the low ground holds until about Oct 5, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 4,000 to 5,000 foot band.
7,000–8,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 107%
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1624%
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2328%
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3029%
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 512%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the forest’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the forest 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.
Tuesday 29 September to Wednesday 30 September
You’ll find it fading up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 16; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 5. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
6,000–7,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 16
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 23
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 30
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 5
Where to drive
Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 44 miles · Going-to-the-Sun Road, about 47 miles · Skalkaho Pass (MT 38), about 126 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, serviceberry, huckleberry, western larch
What turns, and when
quaking aspen45%
Rocky Mountain maple14%
serviceberry14%
huckleberry14%
western larch7%
black cottonwood4%
Also named across Montana, outside what the canopy read measures here: Paper Birch.
Montana's fall is a two-act show: aspens and cottonwoods turn gold around 29 Sep, then western larches steal the finale around 13 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
