Peak color lands around Oct 30 in most of Virginia, but it moves 20 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
Virginia’s season, place by place
The 24 places closest to their peak in Virginia, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: Lewis Fork Wilderness, Oct 15. Last: Bear Creek National Scenic Area, Oct 22.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Oct 21. 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 Virginia
The destinations we cover in Virginia, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- Lewis Fork WildernessToo earlyPeak 15 Oct best 14 to 17 Oct
- Ramseys Draft WildernessToo earlyPeak 16 Oct best 15 to 18 Oct
- Little Wilson Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
- Saint Mary's WildernessToo earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
- Mount Pleasant National Scenic AreaToo earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
- Beartown WildernessToo earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 20 Oct best 19 to 22 Oct
- Shawvers Run WildernessToo earlyPeak 20 Oct best 19 to 22 Oct
- Seng Mountain National Scenic AreaToo earlyPeak 20 Oct best 19 to 22 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Hunting Camp Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Rich Hole WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct, oak 24 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Priest WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Barbours Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct, oak 24 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Three Ridges WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Peters Mountain WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Raccoon Branch WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Garden Mountain WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Thunder Ridge WildernessToo earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
- Kimberling Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
- Bear Creek National Scenic AreaToo earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
Also forecast in VirginiaAssateague Island National SeashoreGeorge Washington Memorial ParkwayPetersburg National Battlefield ParkPrince William Forest ParkWolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
When to go
Across 133 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Highland County around Oct 17 and last in City of Portsmouth around Nov 6. Most of the state peaks near Oct 30.
Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We score the model against 16 long-running forest monitoring sites in this part of the country and publish what it got wrong.
This autumn is running 4 days late in Virginia. 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.
Early-to-mid October at the highest elevations, late October on Skyline Drive, early November in the Piedmont is how Virginia is usually described.
What actually turns
Shenandoah's overlooks reveal a warm mosaic of gold tulip poplars, scarlet maples, bronze hickories, and the deep wine of white oaks stretching along the Blue Ridge.
- Red Maple
- Tulip Poplar
- White Oak
- Hickory
- Sourwood
Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park is 105 miles with 75 overlooks, and the section from Thornton Gap to Swift Run Gap is the most color-dense stretch.
Worth the drive
Madison County lies at the heart of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia's Blue Ridge. Skyline Drive passes through the county for roughly 30 miles, and the old-growth hemlock groves in the hollows create a dark backdrop that makes the hardwood color pop. This section of the park between Thornton Gap and Swift Run Gap is widely considered the most color-dense stretch of Skyline Drive.
Every county, by peak week
Elevation does most of the work here. Color runs down a mountain at roughly a day and a half per 100 meters, so a ridge and the valley below it can be two weeks apart in the same county. On the coast the water adds its own delay, the shoreline itself 4 days behind the same trees inland.
Highland
Albemarle, Alleghany, Amherst, Augusta, Bath, Bland, Botetourt, Bristol city, Buchanan, Buena Vista city, Carroll, Clarke, Covington city, Craig, Dickenson, Fairfax city, Falls Church city, Fauquier, Floyd, Frederick, Galax city, Giles, Grayson, Greene, Harrisonburg city, Lexington city, Loudoun, Madison, Montgomery, Norton city, Page, Pulaski, Radford city, Rappahannock, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Russell, Salem city, Scott, Shenandoah, Smyth, Staunton city, Tazewell, Warren, Washington, Waynesboro city, Winchester city, Wise, Wythe
Accomack, Alexandria city, Amelia, Appomattox, Arlington, Bedford, Brunswick, Buckingham, Campbell, Caroline, Charlotte, Charlottesville city, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights city, Culpeper, Cumberland, Danville city, Dinwiddie, Emporia city, Essex, Fairfax, Fluvanna, Franklin, Franklin city, Fredericksburg city, Goochland, Greensville, Halifax, Hanover, Henrico, Henry, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lee, Louisa, Lunenburg, Lynchburg city, Manassas city, Manassas Park city, Martinsville city, Mecklenburg, Nelson, New Kent, Northumberland, Nottoway, Orange, Patrick, Petersburg city, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Prince George, Prince William, Richmond, Richmond city, Roanoke city, Southampton, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Sussex, Westmoreland
Charles City, Chesapeake city, Gloucester, Hampton city, Hopewell city, Isle of Wight, James City, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Newport News city, Norfolk city, Northampton, Poquoson city, Portsmouth city, Suffolk city, Surry, Virginia Beach city, Williamsburg city, York
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