Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Wind to 40 mph Saturday. Color may come down before it turns.
Weather Hard frost Sunday night. Peak may come early and go fast.
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 Bighorn National Forest Sheridan County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 24 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is fading. Big Horn County, to the west, is 12 days ahead. Johnson County, to the southeast, is 10 days ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 4,515 to 10,322 feet. That’s 39 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Aug 29, the low ground holds until about Oct 7, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 8,000 to 10,000 foot band.
10,000–12,000 ftLeaves downpeak Aug 297%
8,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 1145%
6,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2130%
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 717%
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 1 day 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.
Wednesday 9 September to Thursday 10 September
You’ll find it peak color up high, still green lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 11; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 7. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 11
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Sep 21
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 7
Where to drive
Bighorn Scenic Byway (US 14), about 20 miles · Beartooth Highway (US 212), about 105 miles · Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY 296), about 106 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, serviceberry, water birch
What turns, and when
quaking aspen46%
narrowleaf cottonwood16%
willow11%
serviceberry7%
water birch5%
thinleaf alder5%
Also named across Wyoming, outside what the canopy read measures here: Rocky Mountain Maple.
The Tetons rising above the golden cottonwoods of the Snake River flats is one of the most famous fall landscapes in the American West, and the aspen groves at elevation add hillsides of gold.
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
