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 Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Potter County holds most of the recreation area and is still green today. Moore County, to the northwest, is 2 days ahead. Hutchinson County, to the northeast, is 1 day ahead.By elevation The recreation area runs from about 2,890 to 3,195 feet. It turns together: there isn’t enough relief here for the color to come down in stages.
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2956%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3044%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the recreation area’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the recreation area stands in it.
That’s 5 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
The place
Set within the wide‑open Texas Plains, Lake Meredith National Recreation Area offers a peaceful retreat in the heart of rugged grasslands. Over thousands of years, the Canadian River carved dramatic 200‑foot canyons—known as breaks—that now frame the lake in striking layers of color and texture. These quiet coves sustain an unexpectedly rich array of life, providing seven distinct habitats.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Thursday 29 October to Friday 30 October
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
3,000–4,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 29
2,000–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 30
What turns
honey mesquite, green ash, plains cottonwood, bur oak, boxelder
What turns, and when
honey mesquite56%
green ash16%
plains cottonwood10%
bur oak5%
boxelder3%
willow3%
Every one of these turns yellow or gold here. The shades only tell the species apart.
Also named across Texas, outside what the canopy read measures here: Bald Cypress, Sweetgum, Red Oak, Bigtooth Maple, Sycamore.
Bald cypresses turn copper and russet along the Hill Country rivers, bigtooth maples in the Guadalupe Mountains produce pockets of scarlet, and sweetgums color the Piney Woods red and purple.
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
