Fall foliage in Colorado

Colorado’s color is almost entirely above eight thousand feet and arrives within a short span. Aspen on Kebler and McClure passes and around Crested Butte and Aspen turns in the first days of October; Telluride, Leadville, Steamboat and the Front Range follow within about two weeks. The high passes drop quickly once the wind comes, and the last color is along the Colorado River around Palisade and Grand Junction in the third week of October. The state is mostly yellow; scrub oak on the lower slopes provides what red there is.

Those are the months when color is present somewhere in Colorado, from its highest ground to its lowest. Any one location changes over a much shorter period than that.

Why the timing shifts from year to year

Shortening days start the process, so most places in Colorado change at close to their usual time each year. Within the state, elevation and latitude account for most of the difference: higher and more northern ground generally changes first, and lower, sheltered ground last. Weather has more effect on how strong the color is than on when it appears. Cool nights and sunny days favor the reds, a dry summer mutes them, and a hard freeze or a windstorm can strip a slope in a day. What determines the timing goes through this in detail.

Nearby states

Fall color does not follow state lines. Colorado borders:

• Kansas fall foliage
• Nebraska fall foliage
• New Mexico fall foliage
• Oklahoma fall foliage
• Utah fall foliage
• Wyoming fall foliage

Timing for a specific place

This page describes a whole state, which is about as precise as a season can be described in words. Conditions at one overlook on one weekend are a narrower question, and that is the one Fallcast answers: an expected period of color for a specific location, with a confidence attached, updated through the season as the trees change. It is coming to iPhone this fall.

Questions, or somewhere in Colorado you would like covered? Write to fallcastapp@gmail.com.