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 Cibola National Forest Socorro County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Cibola County, to the northwest, is 16 days ahead. Torrance County, to the east, is 14 days ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 5,356 to 8,463 feet. That’s 8 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 16, the low ground holds until about Oct 24, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1614%
7,000–8,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1841%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2133%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2412%
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.
See it now PhenoCam Network, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge camera, 40 km away, captured Sep 25.
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.
Tuesday 20 October to Wednesday 21 October
You’ll find it just past peak up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 16; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 24. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 16
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 18
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 21
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 24
Where to drive
Sandia Crest Road (NM 536), about 72 miles · Alpine Loop (NM 475), about 124 miles · High Road to Taos, about 139 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple
What turns, and when
quaking aspen38%
narrowleaf cottonwood30%
willow15%
Gambel oak10%
bigtooth maple4%
serviceberry3%
Also named across New Mexico, outside what the canopy read measures here: Rocky Mountain Maple.
Aspens turn gold in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains, Gambel oaks go russet and orange at lower elevations, and cottonwoods line the Rio Grande bosque in butter yellow.
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
