Here’s where fall foliage will peak first in 2025

How one state is making fall foliage spotting enjoyable for colorblind visitors

Specialized viewfinders installed in parks across Virginia are allowing guests to view the changing of leaves, despite some people's difficulty distinguishing between hues.

With a little more than a month left before meteorological autumn begins, fall foliage watchers are already looking ahead to when brilliant hues of red, orange and yellow leaves will emerge across the U.S.

According to newly released 2025 fall foliage predictions from Explorefall.com, a website that offers resources and tools to track changing colors of leaves, the country as a whole may see a delayed onset of foliage, with parts of the Ohio Valley and the middle-southern Mississippi River Valley seeing some of the greatest variances.

A delay does not mean the colorful leaves won’t appear, but it could push back the timeframe during which trees in those areas show their most vivid colors.

The timing of peak foliage can vary from year to year, depending on several climatological factors, such as drought conditions, rainfall, temperatures and cloud cover.

Typically, Alaska often sees the earliest signs of transformation, with leaves starting to change colors by mid-August. 

By the end of September, higher elevations in the Rocky Mountains and communities along the U.S.-Canada border often begin to display their seasonal hues.

HOW A GOES SATELLITE WILL LEAD TO A NEW GENERATION OF LEAF PEEPING

Most of the country enters its peak foliage season in October, with northern-tier states, including New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, being the first to reach peak color status during the month’s early weeks.

Elsewhere in the Northeast and Midwest, peak foliage usually doesn’t arrive until mid-to-late October.

Further south, changes to leaves can continue into November, with mid-November often marking the latest point in the season when significant color changes are observed.

For those planning trips for the fall foliage season, the Explore Fall outlook suggests there will still be plenty of opportunities to see colorful leaves from Oct. 15 through Nov. 15, which includes the holidays of Halloween and Veterans Day.

By Thanksgiving Day, most of the activity will have wrapped up, but there will still be a few splotches available to see, primarily between the Interstate 20 and Interstate 10 corridors.

An important factor that is monitored every season is the length and severity of local drought conditions.

 dry conditions can delay the onset of color by several weeks and may cause leaves to turn brown rather than vibrant red or orange. 

Conversely, summers and falls that see greater precipitation values tend to produce more vivid and longer-lasting displays, if the leaves are able to withstand the showers and thunderstorms that produce the heavy rainfall.

Additionally, tropical cyclones can alter the landscape, as experienced during the 2024 hurricane season when the remnants of Helene downed millions of trees in prime viewing areas of the Southeast.

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WHAT SEASON DO FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GROW IN?

The science behind the change in a tree’s appearance lies in its chlorophyll. 

Chlorophyll helps trees produce food through photosynthesis by converting sunlight into chemical energy.

As the amount of sunlight becomes shorter and the Sun’s rays become less direct, chlorophyll production slows down and eventually stops, causing the green pigment to slow.

The lack of chlorophyll thus helps reveal the sought-after yellow, orange and red colors, which vary in intensity every year.

Although it’s still too early to predict how vibrant the 2025 foliage season will be, it’s unlikely to deter the millions of leaf peepers eager to witness the annual spectacle.

Drone footage captures fall foliage in Salt Lake County, Utah 2022

Drone footage captures spectacular fall foliage in Butterfield Canyon, located in Salt Lake County, Utah. (Credit: Scott T Taylor/Twitter)