Dorset Lookout Tower
Autumn Guide · October 6, 2026
OntarioFall · October 4, 2026 – October 12, 2026
Where these dates come from
Who makes these estimates and how, for anyone who wants to check the dates.
The calendar behind every date on the map and the other forecasts beside it, with earlier seasons for the places that have them.
Data: Autumn Guide, built on ERA5 weather records via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), as of October 31, 2026.
Autumn Guide works out its dates from daily temperatures and the length of the day at points about 40 to 50 miles (60 to 80 km) apart, shifts them for elevation and terrain, and corrects them against the peak dates that almanacs, foliage sites and tourism boards have published. One person makes it, a software developer, and as far as its own pages say, 2026 is its first season.
Data: Autumn Guide, built on ERA5 weather records via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), as of October 31, 2026. This page shows a selection of Autumn Guide’s places and dates; the whole set is on their site.
What one place tells you about another
Rules of thumb for where color comes early, late or well; open one to read it whole, with its sources.
Elevation and latitude 4
Color comes first to the high ground and to the north
Color comes first to the high ground and to the north. A summit’s color may reach the slopes below in about a week, and a northern valley’s color may reach lowlands well to the south in a few weeks, but those are rough guides that vary from place to place; compare a fresh local picture before carrying that color downhill or south.
Sources: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗ · Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · Maine Forest Service ↗ · The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗
About two days earlier for each degree of latitude farther north
As a measured average across North American forest webcams, the first loss of green in broadleaf forest comes about two days earlier for each degree of latitude farther north (a degree is about 111 km or 69 miles) and about one day earlier for each 100 meters (330 feet) of elevation, so use those figures to move the start of the turn from one place to another, and remember they describe the start of the turn rather than the peak.
Source: Richardson AD et al. (2019) ↗
The best color moves through in stretches of roughly ten days
Within one state the best color moves through in stretches of roughly ten days, band by band from north to south and from high to low, so a place one band over from your fresh picture is about ten days ahead of it or behind it.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · Maine Department of Agriculture ↗ · Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ↗
Other hardwoods grow higher
Sugar maple reaches about 760 meters (2,500 feet) in northern New England and New York; other hardwoods grow higher, with beech reaching about 980 meters (3,200 feet) in the Adirondacks of New York. Spruce and fir take over at elevations that vary with the mountain and its exposure, so high slopes of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondacks can look dark green at peak while a summit view shows the color below.
Sources: USDA Forest Service, the sugar maple chapter ↗ · USDA Forest Service, the yellow birch chapter ↗ · USDA Forest Service, the red spruce chapter ↗ · USDA Forest Service, the American beech chapter ↗
Valleys, frost pockets and cold air that drains downhill 3
The cold air slides off the slopes and pools in valley bottoms and hollows
On calm, clear nights the cold air slides off the slopes and pools in valley bottoms and hollows, so the low places get the first frosts, and the wet lowland maples there color before the hillsides above them.
Sources: Penn State Extension ↗ · University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension ↗
A red maple swamp in scarlet is an early signal, weeks ahead of the uplands
A red maple swamp in scarlet is an early signal, weeks ahead of the uplands, and not a sign that the hills around it have peaked.
Sources: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗
When a freeze comes on a strong wind … the heights take the worst of it
When a freeze comes on a strong wind out of the north rather than on a still night, the heights take the worst of it, so after a windy cold snap look for damage on the ridges first.
Source: Penn State Extension ↗
Lakeshores and the coast 2
Big water keeps its shores mild into autumn
Big water keeps its shores mild into autumn, so the sea coast and the shores of the largest lakes run about a week or more behind the inland hills at the same latitude, and a fresh picture from the mountains is a poor guide to the shore.
Sources: Ontario Parks blog ↗ · Maine Forest Service ↗ · Maine Department of Agriculture ↗
Cedar and fir often keep the shoreline green
In Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, cedar and fir often keep the shoreline green while the hardwood hills behind it change color. See which trees line another lake’s shore before judging its season the same way.
Source: The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗
Slope, and which way it faces 1
The way a slope faces matters mostly through which trees grow on it
The way a slope faces matters mostly through which trees grow on it, so before taking a slope's color as early or late, look at its trees: north-facing slopes grow more hemlock (green all season) and more beech and yellow birch (yellows), while dry ridges and south- and west-facing upper slopes grow more red maple and oak (reds and russets).
Sources: The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗ · USDA Forest Service, the red maple chapter ↗ · USDA Forest Service, the American beech chapter ↗
Soil, rock and the history of the land 3
Acid soils favor the reds
Acid soils favor the reds, so two stands of the same maples can differ in color from one valley to the next for reasons the weather does not explain.
Sources: University of Massachusetts Amherst Extension ↗ · University of Connecticut Extension ↗
Some broad yellow patches … are birch and aspen
Some broad yellow patches inside a red-and-orange forest are birch and aspen that came in after a fire, logging or an abandoned field; identify the trees before taking the patch as a sign of that history, and remember that those yellows keep their own calendar rather than the maples’.
Sources: The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · USDA Forest Service, the paper birch chapter ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗
Trees under stress from drought or road salt color early
Trees under stress from drought or road salt color early, so an early red tree by a road is a weaker sign of the season than a whole hillside.
Source: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗
A wet or a dry summer 3
A severe drought makes trees turn early, dull and brown
A late summer on the dry side, followed by bright autumn days, helps the reds, but a severe drought makes trees turn early, dull and brown and lose their leaves sooner, so after a drought summer expect an early, short and muted season.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · Columbia Climate School ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗
Very heavy rain in the weeks just before the turn tends to dull it
A well-watered growing season is good for color, but very heavy rain in the weeks just before the turn tends to dull it.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · Columbia Climate School ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗
Yellows often vary less from year to year than reds
Yellows often vary less from year to year than reds, but drought, damage and early leaf fall can dull a yellow forest too, so the weather affects the whole display, including birch, aspen, beech and hickory country as well as maple country.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗
Warm nights and bright days 4
Sunny days with cool nights that stay above freezing make the strongest reds
Sunny days with cool nights that stay above freezing make the strongest reds, and cloudy days with warm nights make drab ones, so a week of clear days and nights in the low 40s Fahrenheit (about 5 °C) is the forecast to watch for.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · Maine Department of Agriculture ↗ · SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗
A warm autumn can keep the leaves green
A warm autumn can keep the leaves green and delay both color and leaf fall, but the trees, the moisture and the rest of the season matter too, so a warm September alone does not settle the date.
Sources: Archetti M ↗ · The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · New Hampshire Public Radio ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗
The sunny side of a sugar maple, or of a forest edge, shows the most red
The sunny side of a sugar maple, or of a forest edge, shows the most red, because the same tree's leaves stay yellow in shade and turn red in sun.
Source: U.S. National Park Service ↗
When comparing two pictures, allow for the hour and the sky
When comparing two pictures, allow for the hour and the sky, since low morning or evening sun adds reds and oranges that a flat gray noon takes away.
Sources: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗ · SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗
The first frost and a hard freeze 2
Cool spells can move a local season along
Cool spells can move a local season along, but a first frost does not promise an early or a better season; how hard the frost was, and a fresh local picture, tell more.
Sources: The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗
A hard freeze early in the season can weaken the reds
A hard freeze early in the season can weaken the reds, brown the leaves and bring them down early; after a night well below freezing, look at a fresh picture, since how much changed varies with the tree and its exposure.
Sources: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗ · University of Connecticut Extension ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗ · Maine Department of Agriculture ↗
Wind and heavy rain 2
An autumn rainstorm or windstorm can strip a hillside
Once leaves have colored, their stalks are ready to let go, so an autumn rainstorm or windstorm can strip a hillside that a summer storm would barely touch; after a storm, look at a fresh picture before deciding how much of a hillside has changed.
Sources: Maine Department of Agriculture ↗ · Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗ · New Hampshire Public Radio ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗
Oaks and young beech keep their leaves, browning, often into winter
After the maples and birches are bare, oaks and young beech keep their leaves, browning, often into winter, so late pictures from oak country show russet and tan rather than bare branches and are not out of date in the same way.
Sources: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗ · Harvard Forest ↗ · University of Massachusetts Amherst Extension ↗
How long peak lasts and how fast it passes 2
At any one place the stretch from full color to bare branches is short
At any one place the stretch from full color to bare branches is short, about nine to eleven days at one webcam in the lower Hudson Valley in New York, so during the peak weeks a picture more than about a week old is probably out of date.
Source: Columbia Climate School ↗
A mixed forest colors for far longer than any one of its trees
A mixed forest colors for far longer than any one of its trees, because each species keeps its own calendar, so a place past its maple peak can still be worth a visit for its oaks, beech and tamarack.
Sources: Archetti M ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗ · Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ↗
Where the rules fail 4
Never carry a peak date over from a past year
Never carry a peak date over from a past year, because the same forest can peak more than three weeks apart from one year to the next: the sugar maples of Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario have peaked anywhere from September 15 to October 9 since 1973.
Sources: The Friends of Algonquin Park (Algonquin Provincial Park's official site) ↗ · New Hampshire Public Radio ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗
Where the sources disagree, trust a fresh picture over any rule
Where the sources disagree, trust a fresh picture over any rule: they disagree on whether cloudy, rainy autumns help or hurt, and on whether warm autumns lengthen or shorten the display.
Sources: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗ · Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗ · Archetti M ↗ · Columbia Climate School ↗
Town and street trees are poor guides to the woods around them
Town and street trees are poor guides to the woods around them, because planted maples and pears turn weeks after the forest and salt- and drought-stressed street trees can color in late summer.
Source: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ↗
Pests and invasive plants change a hillside's colors
Pests and invasive plants change a hillside's colors, so where emerald ash borer has passed expect fewer of white ash's early purples, and where invasive shrubs fill the ground beneath the trees expect green to linger late.
Sources: Government of Ontario ↗ · U.S. National Park Service ↗
The forest changes with elevation
More Than Just Parks's saved outlook for White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and western Maine, issued .
| Elevation | Estimated peak |
|---|---|
| Above 3,000 feet (914 m) | |
| 2,000–3,000 feet (610–914 m) | |
| 1,000–2,000 feet (305–610 m) | |
| Below 1,000 feet (305 m) |
These bands cover the whole forest by elevation; the dates elsewhere on this page are for single named places, which is a different thing.
Read the elevation forecast · last checked September 27, 2026. Follow the source for revisions.
A roadside viewpoint, a summit and the forest below can have different seasons. An estimate is for the named place its source chose, not for the trees in any one photograph.
Check the elevation and area in the source before using its date for a walk or a drive.
Explore Fall place forecast · source checked
More Than Just Parks foliage tracker · source checked
Massachusetts state parks foliage map (DCR) · source checked
Rhode Island foliage places · source checked
OntarioFall's local forecasts · source checked
The source forecasts compared
Read each source's dates and area together. A range of viewing dates and an estimated peak day describe different things.
Earlier seasons and local context
Each webcam and report below names the places it covers.
Underhill hills photograph archive
For Stowe & Smugglers’ Notch · Appalachian Gap (Vermont Route 17) · Camel's Hump (Monroe Trail) · Mount Philo State Park · Quechee Gorge · Smugglers’ Notch (Vermont Route 108) · Woodstock Village · Underhill hills · East Montpelier countryside.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 20 and September 27. Open it, pick the same hour of daylight as today’s picture and set the two side by side; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Bartlett Forest photograph archive
For North Conway & Bartlett · Bath Covered Bridge · Castle in the Clouds · Franconia Notch State Park · Kancamagus Highway · Mount Washington Cog Railway · Bartlett Forest · Lower Falls, Kancamagus · Sabbaday Falls trailhead · Crystal Cascade & Pinkham Notch.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 20 and September 27. Open it, pick the same hour of daylight as today’s picture and set the two side by side; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Harvard Forest photograph archive
For Berkshires & western Massachusetts · Bash Bish Falls State Park · Mohawk Trail (Hairpin Turn) · Mount Greylock State Reservation · October Mountain State Forest · Harvard Forest · Shelburne Falls & the Mohawk Trail · Washington & October Mountain area.
Compare this webcam's picture with its pictures from a week and two weeks earlier, in similar light where you can; a missing day, glare or weather can throw the comparison off. An old forecast map shows what was predicted, while the webcam shows what the trees actually did.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Boston Common photograph archive
For Boston parks and river · Arnold Arboretum · Boston Public Garden · Middlesex Fells Reservation · Mount Auburn Cemetery · Walden Pond State Reservation · Boston Common · Charles River trees.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 20 and September 27. Open it, pick the same hour of daylight as today’s picture and set the two side by side; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Charles River trees photograph archive
For Boston parks and river · Arnold Arboretum · Boston Public Garden · Middlesex Fells Reservation · Mount Auburn Cemetery · Walden Pond State Reservation · Boston Common · Charles River trees.
Compare this webcam's picture with its pictures from a week and two weeks earlier, in similar light where you can; a missing day, glare or weather can throw the comparison off. An old forecast map shows what was predicted, while the webcam shows what the trees actually did.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Lac Clair photograph archive
For Lac Clair & Québec City hinterland · Lac Clair.
Compare this webcam's picture with its pictures from a week and two weeks earlier, in similar light where you can; a missing day, glare or weather can throw the comparison off. An old forecast map shows what was predicted, while the webcam shows what the trees actually did.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Sugar-maple peak dates in Algonquin Provincial Park
For Algonquin Highway 60 · Dorset lookout area · Algonquin Provincial Park, Highway 60 · Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower · Algonquin Highlands — Five Viewpoints area.
For the treetops of sugar maples along the western part of Highway 60 in Algonquin Provincial Park, the Friends of Algonquin Park give September 29 as the peak in 2026, September 25 in 2025 and September 27 as the long-term average, so this year came two days later than that average. These dates are for one kind of tree along one stretch of road; they do not describe every tree species or show whether a forecast's broader range of fall-color dates was right.
Open the report · source checked
How the color moved across Maine in 2024
For Rangeley Lakes · Acadia & coastal Maine · Acadia National Park (Park Loop Road) · Camden Hills State Park · Height of Land (Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway) · Kennebunkport · Acadia panorama · Moosehead Lake & Lily Bay · Lily Bay State Park · Sand Beach, Acadia · Jordan Pond, Acadia · Merryspring & Camden–Rockport.
The Maine Forest Service's report of October 2, 2024 put the northern zones, and the northern parts of zones 4 and 5, at peak color while the coastal zones had little color yet; by October 16, coastal zones 1 and 2 were at peak. The state divides Maine into seven zones for these weekly reports, which describe whole zones, not the peak day at any one overlook.
Open the report · source checked
Maine’s earlier weekly reports
For Rangeley Lakes · Acadia & coastal Maine · Acadia National Park (Park Loop Road) · Camden Hills State Park · Height of Land (Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway) · Kennebunkport · Acadia panorama · Moosehead Lake & Lily Bay · Lily Bay State Park · Sand Beach, Acadia · Jordan Pond, Acadia · Merryspring & Camden–Rockport.
Compare the zone and the leaf-drop column, not just the color label. The archive keeps its north and south divisions, and sometimes records a peak after the weekly reports had stopped. Open each report by its date rather than its heading: as of October 4, the 2026 heading pointed at the 2025 reports.
Open the report · source checked
Connecticut River at Thompsonville, earlier pictures
For Connecticut River at Thompsonville.
Use the U.S. Geological Survey's viewer to pick an earlier picture of the same riverbank. Compare pictures taken in similar daylight and check the time each was taken; the webcam's time-lapse may not have a picture for every day you ask for.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Harvard Farm meadow and woods archive
For Berkshires & western Massachusetts · Bash Bish Falls State Park · Mohawk Trail (Hairpin Turn) · Mount Greylock State Reservation · October Mountain State Forest · Harvard Forest · Shelburne Falls & the Mohawk Trail · Washington & October Mountain area.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 27 but none for September 20. Open it, take the nearest earlier day that has one and keep its date in view as you compare; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Worcester trees and wooded hill archive
For Boston parks and river · Berkshires & western Massachusetts · Providence & inland Rhode Island · Arnold Arboretum · Bash Bish Falls State Park · Boston Public Garden · Middlesex Fells Reservation · Mohawk Trail (Hairpin Turn) · Mount Auburn Cemetery · Mount Greylock State Reservation · October Mountain State Forest · Walden Pond State Reservation · Harvard Forest · Boston Common · Charles River trees · Shelburne Falls & the Mohawk Trail · Blackstone Gorge · Washington & October Mountain area · Lincoln & Cumberland parks.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 20 and September 27. Open it, pick the same hour of daylight as today’s picture and set the two side by side; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Woods at Millbrook, New York
For Litchfield Hills & Kent · Catskills & Hudson Valley · Bull's Bridge · Essex Steam Train & Riverboat · Gillette Castle State Park · Kent Falls State Park · Bear Mountain State Park · Kaaterskill Falls · Minnewaska State Park Preserve · Storm King Art Center · Connecticut River at Thompsonville · Kent — Claire Murphy Riverwalk · Litchfield town area · Mohonk Preserve & Coxing Kill · Ellenville & the Shawangunk foothills · Jewett & the northern Catskills · Ferncliff Forest & South Pond.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 20 and September 27. Open it, pick the same hour of daylight as today’s picture and set the two side by side; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Laurentides leaves and lake archive
For Montréal & nearby Québec alternatives · Gatineau Park, Champlain Lookout · Mont-Royal · Mont-Tremblant, Panoramic Village.
On October 4, this webcam’s archive listed pictures for September 20 and September 27. Open it, pick the same hour of daylight as today’s picture and set the two side by side; those earlier pictures have not been checked here, so compare them yourself.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Lower Hudson Valley & day trips from New York City, earlier pictures
For Lower Hudson Valley & NYC day trips · Harriman State Park.
The webcam’s archive has pictures from September 20, September 27 and October 4 to set side by side; fog, rain and low sun can all change the color you see, so compare like with like.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked
Philadelphia area & Bucks County photograph history
For Philadelphia area & Bucks County.
The webcam’s archive has pictures from September 20, September 27 and October 4 to set side by side; fog, rain and low sun can all change the color you see, so compare like with like.
Open the webcam’s archive · source checked