Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Wind to 37 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 Lolo National Forest Missoula County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. Mineral County, to the west, is 2 days ahead. Sanders County, to the northwest, is 6 days behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 3,247 to 7,164 feet. That’s 27 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 12, the low ground holds until about Oct 7, 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 127%
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1819%
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2427%
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 129%
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 715%
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 just past peak up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 18; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 7. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 18
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 24
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 1
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 7
Where to drive
Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 44 miles · Skalkaho Pass (MT 38), about 72 miles · Going-to-the-Sun Road, about 112 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, black cottonwood, serviceberry, Rocky Mountain maple, huckleberry
What turns, and when
quaking aspen40%
black cottonwood13%
serviceberry12%
Rocky Mountain maple12%
huckleberry12%
willow10%
Also named across Montana, outside what the canopy read measures here: Western Larch, Paper Birch.
Montana's fall is a two-act show: aspens and cottonwoods turn gold around 30 Sep, then western larches steal the finale in mid-October, 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
