Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.
No new reports from the ground here this week.
That’s 4 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Plan this tripIf you can only come on certain days
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.
- Where to drive
- Skyline Drive, about 55 miles · Route 39 (Goshen Pass), about 121 miles · Highland Scenic Highway (Route 150), about 148 miles
- What turns
- white oak, red maple, northern red oak, shagbark hickory, blackgum
What turns, and when
- white oak29%
- red maple21%
- northern red oak17%
- shagbark hickory8%
- blackgum6%
- sweetgum6%
Also named across Virginia, outside what the canopy read measures here: Tulip Poplar, Sourwood.
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.
Across Virginia as a whole: Early-to-mid October at the highest elevations, late October on Skyline Drive, early November in the Piedmont.
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. We score it here against 7 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 13 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made