It might be in the 80s along the Front Range this week, but peak fall colors are getting closer and closer in the mountains.
While patchy fall colors have been spotted across the higher terrain over the last few days, “near peak” conditions are expected this weekend, based on a new and detailed fall foliage prediction website’s forecast.
Fall stories
The website SmokyMountains.com’s shows Colorado’s peak mountain colors arriving over the next two weekends, with peak colors perhaps likeliest around the weekend of Oct. 5. The website uses 40,000 visual data points based on past weather and official government-issued weather forecasts to produce the foliage maps.
“Although the scientific concept of how leaves change colors is fairly simple, predicting the precise moment the event will occur is extremely challenging,” SmokyMountains.com data scientist and CTO Wes Melton said. “The major factors impacting peak fall are sunlight, precipitation, soil moisture and temperature. Although we cannot control Mother Nature and ensure 100 percent accuracy, our data sources are top-tier and each year we refine our algorithmic model achieving higher accuracy over time.”
The same website predicts eastern Colorado’s peak colors to bloom between Oct. 19 and 26.
If recent weather is anything to go off of, . Cool nights and warm days, coupled with a wet growing season and dry end to summer make extra colorful fall leaves more likely. In general, Colorado has experienced all of those weather criteria, helping fuel extra anticipation for this season’s fall foliage show.
It’ll also feel a bit more fall-like this weekend, with temperatures statewide expected to cool to more typical late September levels behind a cold front later this week.
