When does fall foliage peak?
The answer changes every hundred miles and every thousand feet. This table lists the typical windows that state agencies publish, with a link to each one.
Typical color windows, state by state
Each line gives a region and the window in the agency’s own words. “Typical” means what most years bring; a warm autumn or a dry summer moves everything. Collected October 2026 — please check the linked report before you plan around a date.
- Colorado
- Aspen stands at higher elevation and farther north
- September and early October
In Rocky Mountain National Park the change starts in the subalpine zone (9,000–11,000 feet) in early September and reaches the montane zone by mid-September, according to the National Park Service.
- Connecticut
- Statewide
- Between October 3 and November 8
A single statewide estimate from the state forestry division; the date may shift a few days either way with the weather.
- Georgia
- F.D. Roosevelt State Park
- Often early November
Georgia State Parks gives timing park by park. Black Rock Mountain is usually one of the first places to show color; no date is given for it.
Source: Georgia State Parks — Leaf Watch
- Maine
- Northern Maine
- Last week of September into the first week of October
- Central Maine and the western mountains
- Around Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend
- Southern and coastal Maine
- Mid-October through the end of the month
Maine reports foliage for seven zones. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is the second Monday of October.
- Massachusetts
- Statewide, western Massachusetts first
- Mid-October (2026 expectation)
This is the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s expectation for 2026, not a long-term average. Its interactive map can be searched by place and date.
Source: Massachusetts DCR — 2026 interactive fall foliage map
- Minnesota
- Statewide, northwest to southeast
- Late September through mid-October
Color starts in the far northwest and north-central parts of the state and moves southeast. Peak usually lasts about a week in any one area. The DNR’s Fall Color Finder map is updated every Thursday through the end of October.
- New York
- Adirondacks
- Late September to mid-October
- Catskills
- Early to mid-October
- Chautauqua-Allegheny and Capital-Saratoga
- Mid-October
- Thousand Islands-Seaway and Central New York
- Mid- to late October
- Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley
- Mid-October through early November
- Greater Niagara
- Late October to early November
- Long Island and New York City
- Early to mid-November
These are historical peak windows published by the state’s tourism office, which calls them approximations. Weekly reports start in September.
- North Carolina
- Blue Ridge Parkway, highest peaks first
- October, starting early in the month on the highest peaks
- Great Smoky Mountains above 4,000 feet
- Early to mid-October
- Great Smoky Mountains below 4,000 feet
- Mid-October to early November
The Park Service stresses that there is no simple formula: the parkway is nearly 470 miles long and spans more than 5,000 feet of elevation. Smokies dates come from the Great Smoky Mountains fall color page.
Source: National Park Service — Blue Ridge Parkway fall colors
- Pennsylvania
- Northern counties
- October 1–10
- Central counties
- October 10–20
- Laurel Highlands
- Around October 15–20
- South central and southeastern counties
- October 20–31
DCNR releases a statewide report every Thursday during the season.
- Tennessee
- Great Smoky Mountains above 4,000 feet
- Early to mid-October
- Great Smoky Mountains below 4,000 feet
- Mid-October to early November
The first changes at high elevation can begin as early as mid-September, with yellow birch, American beech, mountain maple, hobblebush and pin cherry.
Source: National Park Service — Great Smoky Mountains fall colors
- Vermont
- Statewide, north and high ground first
- Last week of September and the first or second week of October
Higher elevations and northern areas turn first; color then spreads south and into the valleys. Some leaves last into late October.
- Virginia
- Western Virginia
- Around October 10–20
- Central Virginia
- Around October 15–25
- Eastern Virginia
- Around October 20–31
The mountains turn first; the coast and the Eastern Shore last. Exact dates vary with temperature and rainfall.
Source: Virginia Department of Forestry — Fall foliage in Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Northern destinations such as Hayward and Boulder Junction
- First and second week of October
- Central destinations such as Wausau and Eau Claire
- Second and third week of October
- Southern destinations such as Beloit and Lake Geneva
- Fourth week of October to first week of November
Travel Wisconsin publishes a forecast for each destination instead of statewide dates; these are the 2026 forecasts. Exceptions exist — Madison, in the south, was forecast for the first week of November.
How we turn words into dates
Agencies mostly write “early October” or “the last week of September”, not calendar dates. For the week tool on the home page we translate those phrases the same way everywhere:
- Early in a month means the 1st to the 10th, mid the 11th to the 20th, late the 21st to the end.
- First week means the 1st to the 7th, second week the 8th to the 14th, and so on; the last week of September is the 24th to the 30th.
- Where an agency gives dates, such as Pennsylvania’s “October 1–10”, we use them unchanged.
The table above always shows the original wording, so you can judge for yourself.
States we have not covered
New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia all run fall color pages, but they present their typical dates as maps or images that change every year, with no dates in the text. We would sooner leave a state out than guess. Their tourism and natural-resources websites are the place to look.