Peak color lands around Nov 5 in most of Oklahoma, but it moves 15 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
Oklahoma’s season, place by place
Every place we forecast in Oklahoma, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: Rita Blanca National Grassland, Nov 1. Last: Little River National Wildlife Refuge, Nov 11.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Nov 6. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.
The county map today
Where to go in Oklahoma
The destinations we cover in Oklahoma, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- Rita Blanca National GrasslandToo earlyPeak 1 Nov best 31 Oct to 3 Nov
- Black Kettle National GrasslandToo earlyPeak 1 Nov best 31 Oct to 3 Nov
- Salt Plains National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 2 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
- Washita Battlefield National Historic SiteToo earlyPeak 2 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
- Ozark Plateau National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Wichita Mountains Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 5 Nov best 4 to 7 Nov
- Wichita Mountains Wilderness North Mountain UnitToo earlyPeak 5 Nov best 4 to 7 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 6 Nov, oak 9 Nov best 5 to 8 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 6 Nov, oak 9 Nov best 5 to 8 Nov
- Beech Creek National Scenic AreaToo earlyPeak 6 Nov, oak 9 Nov best 5 to 8 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 7 Nov, oak 10 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Deep Fork National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 7 Nov, white oak 14 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 8 Nov best 7 to 10 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 9 Nov best 8 to 11 Nov
- Little River National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 11 Nov best 10 to 13 Nov
When to go
Across 77 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Texas County around Oct 27 and last in Love County around Nov 11. Most of the state peaks near Nov 5.
Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We publish what the model got wrong, region by region.
This autumn is running 6 days late in Oklahoma. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.
Late October through mid-November is how Oklahoma is usually described.
What actually turns
The Ouachita Mountains in the southeast produce the best color, with sweetgums going red and purple, oaks turning russet, and the ridgetop views from the Talimena Byway stretching for miles.
- Post Oak
- Blackjack Oak
- Sweetgum
- Hickory
- Red Maple
The Talimena National Scenic Byway from Talihina to the Arkansas border runs a mountain ridgeline with panoramic views of color-covered Ouachita slopes, peaking in early November.
Every county, by peak week
Elevation does most of the work here. Color runs down a mountain at roughly a day per 100 meters, so a ridge and the valley below it can be a week or two apart in the same county.
Texas
Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Cimarron, Craig, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harper, Kay, Major, Nowata, Ottawa, Roger Mills, Washington, Woods, Woodward
Adair, Atoka, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cherokee, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche, Cotton, Creek, Delaware, Garvin, Grady, Greer, Harmon, Haskell, Hughes, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnston, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Latimer, Le Flore, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mayes, McClain, McCurtain, McIntosh, Murray, Muskogee, Noble, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, Okmulgee, Osage, Pawnee, Payne, Pittsburg, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Pushmataha, Rogers, Seminole, Sequoyah, Stephens, Tillman, Tulsa, Wagoner, Washita
Bryan, Choctaw, Love
Every date on this site is a forecast: a model corrected by ground reports, carrying a measured error, published in full. Check conditions with the land manager before you travel. Last reviewed September 2026. Open the live map