Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
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 Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest Nearly all of the forest is in Cherry County, which is starting to turn today.By elevation The forest runs from about 2,759 to 3,109 feet. It turns together: there isn’t enough relief here for the color to come down in stages.
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1144%
2,000–3,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1156%
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 4 days 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.
Saturday 10 October to Sunday 11 October
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
3,000–4,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 11
2,000–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 11
What turns
plains cottonwood, green ash, boxelder, willow, American elm
What turns, and when
plains cottonwood36%
green ash25%
boxelder12%
willow12%
American elm12%
bur oak2%
Every one of these turns yellow or gold here. The shades only tell the species apart.
Also named across Nebraska, outside what the canopy read measures here: Red Oak, Hackberry.
Cottonwoods along the Platte and Niobrara rivers turn gold, and the Pine Ridge in the northwest produces a surprising mix of ponderosa pine and hardwood color.
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
