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 Dixie National Forest Garfield County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 13 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is starting to turn. Washington County, to the southwest, is 13 days behind. Iron County, to the west, is 5 days behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 4,415 to 10,145 feet. That’s 47 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 22, the low ground holds until about Oct 26, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 8,000 foot band.
10,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 226%
8,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 339%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1341%
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 269%
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 2 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.
Friday 9 October to Saturday 10 October
You’ll find it just past peak up high, starting to turn lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 3; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 26. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 3
6,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 13
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 26
Where to drive
Boulder Mountain (UT 12), about 57 miles · Fish Lake Scenic Byway (UT 25), about 67 miles · Nebo Loop, about 149 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, Gambel oak, willow, bigtooth maple
What turns, and when
quaking aspen68%
narrowleaf cottonwood10%
Gambel oak9%
willow7%
bigtooth maple3%
serviceberry3%
Also named across Utah, outside what the canopy read measures here: Rocky Mountain Maple.
Utah's fall is a dual show: aspens turn gold on the high plateaus while bigtooth maples along the Wasatch Front go vivid scarlet, creating one of the most colorful mountain fronts in the West.
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
