ESTES PARK, Colo. — The weather in Colorado this week has been hinting at the end of summer and the start of fall, which has many people asking about when the best time will be to see fall foliage in the state.
"This is a typical time, you know, late August into early to mid-September, is when fall colors do typically begin to change. We're starting to see hues of gold at our higher elevation areas," Jamie Richards, a park ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park, said. "Many trees are still green and will be for the next, you know, probably week or two. But start to think about your fall trips to Rocky Mountain National Park."
Richards explained what environmental factors impact the chlorophyll within the leaves.
"Shorter days, cooler temperatures, the amount of moisture that's in the air, and also the elevation that you're located at all impact when trees like our aspens will begin to change to their fall colors," Richards said. "You can feel that fall is upon us, and that is a trigger for the Aspen and other leafy trees to begin to transition to their fall colors."
Mountains
Fall colors in Colorado 2025: Forecast map, why this year's show might be early
Dr. Dan West with the Colorado State Forest Service went searching for aspens that were reported to have already changed colors and found many were actually suffering from necrosis due to drought. It can make leaves on aspens appear yellow with brown outlining them.
"Widespread occurrence of a true fall color change among aspen in August would be unprecedented for Colorado," according to West.
Still, he said aspens will be changing colors sooner than normal as a result of drought conditions. He reports the northern part of the state will see peak aspen colors in mid-September.
"Everybody's pretty excited about the fall colors right about now," Bob Falcone, an outdoor recreation enthusiast known as "Hiking Bob" in Southern Colorado, said. "Every year, about this time, people see a couple of leaves changing, and everybody gets all excited that the leaves are changing early. I'm not seeing that down here, but it's a situation where things are very different depending on what part of the state you're in."
Falcone had some ideas as to which parts of the state may see which colors, based on environmental factors.
"The western slope did not get a lot of rain this past winter and this past spring, so it's been very dry there. I think they're going to have a vastly different fall colors season than we are on the Front Range," Falcone said. "The eastern slope and southeast Colorado here, where I'm at, has had a lot of rain, especially in the last couple of weeks. So we may see a better fall color season than maybe Northeastern Colorado."
Falcone uses this interactive fall foliage map to help predict which week will be best for which colors throughout the country.
The Colorado State Forest Service has a map that details the usual suggested aspen viewing dates for the different regions of the state.
