Fall Color Watch 2026: End of September for Southern Colorado

Living in the Colorado mountains as long as I had, the sign of fall and the coming of winter isn’t gauged by kids returning to school, cooler mornings, or the migration of birds and elk. It’s the changing of the leaves. We notice them while out doing everyday activities such as hiking and playing pickleball, and inevitably someone will say, “Look the leaves are already changing”.

To me, this means snow is right around the corner!

After a low winter snowpack followed by a hot, dry summer with little monsoon rain, much of Colorado is experiencing drought conditions. As a result, it’s predicted that the aspens may turn earlier than usual this year. Drought puts stress on the trees, and some of the yellow leaves we’re already seeing could be drought stress rather than the beginning of the true fall color season. Either way, if you want to catch the aspen fall color, you may need to start looking a little earlier this year.

Here in Pagosa Springs and the 4-Corners area, our southern location means we are one of the last mountain areas in Colorado to see the leaves change. The forecasts put our best window for leaf peeping somewhere around the last week of September into the first week of October.

Of course, predicting fall color is a little like predicting mountain weather. P.S. I don’t think mountain weather likes to be predicted! So, use these dates as a guide.

The big question for me: Does the timing of the leaves give an indication of when the snow will come? Unfortunately no. But a girl can hope for a long, snowy winter with plenty of powder for downhill skiing and plenty of snow for cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing!