Fall Foliage in Utah: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Peak color in Utah typically runs September 22 to October 8. Exact timing shifts one to two weeks year to year — a warm, wet autumn pushes peak later, while drought stress or an early hard frost accelerates it.

Color usually becomes noticeable around September 12, starting with High plateaus & cottonwood canyons (mid to late September) and spreading across the state over the following weeks.

Most years the show is largely over by October 20. Red rock country (canyon cottonwoods) holds color latest (late October), and oak-dominated woods keep muted color for another week or two beyond the maples.

Alpine Loop Scenic Byway; Mirror Lake Highway (UT 150); UT 12 over Boulder Mountain. Go midweek during the peak window if you can — the marquee routes draw serious weekend traffic at peak.

The palette here is built on aspen (including Pando, the world's largest organism), maple, cottonwood. Reds and oranges come from anthocyanins that sugar maples and red maples manufacture in sunny, cool-night weather; the yellows in birch and aspen are carotenoids that were in the leaf all summer, unmasked when chlorophyll breaks down.

The recipe for a great year is a moist growing season followed by a sunny September of warm days and cool — not freezing — nights. Watch late-summer drought maps: stressed trees turn early and dull. The windows on this page are the reliable planning anchor either way.

In any single spot, expect 5–10 good days. Statewide, the window runs September 22 to October 8 because High plateaus & cottonwood canyons (mid to late September) and Red rock country (canyon cottonwoods) (late October) are staggered — if you can move, Utah gives you weeks of peak somewhere.

Chase the stagger: earlier terrain has already peaked, later terrain hasn't yet. Arrive too early and head for High plateaus & cottonwood canyons; too late, drop to Red rock country (canyon cottonwoods). The color map on this page shows today's estimated status across the area you search.