DENVER — We all know fall season is the best season in Colorado, and fall color fiends won’t have to wait long to get a front row seat to one of Mother Nature’s most spectacular shows.
“We really haven't seen much drought here for the higher elevations so that's great news for our fall outlook,” said Denver7 meteorologist Stacey Donaldson.
With precipitation 104% of state median as of Monday, conditions “bode well for viewing our peak colors and having, really, all those colors filling in,” Donaldson added.
In fact, spots where Coloradans might go chasing fall colors later this month – Kenosha Pass, Rocky Mountain National Park, Vail, Steamboat Springs, among others – show higher than average precipitation as of Monday, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
So how long will we have to wait for the leaves to change?
“The peak color will start to show up by the end of September” west of Denver in the higher elevations like Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs, and the western part of Jefferson County, Donaldson said.
Once the month of October starts, Coloradans can expect those peak colors to shift east, with moderate fall foliage showing up in the Front Range and the Eastern Plains around Oct. 10.
Explorefall.com, a website that tracks fall foliage reports and provides an interactive map forecasting where colors are changing, will be updated as the season begins, so you want to check back often to see where color’s happening so you can plan ahead for where color might move next.
- Denver7 Weather special | Danielle Grant goes in-depth on the September weather outlook, the 2024 fall forecast, and a look back at one of the most extreme weather events in Colorado history in September of 2013, in the video player below: