Fall Colors in Colorado 2024: The foliage could be spectacular

Fall foliage fans should mark the date now, as it looks like Colorado will experience spectacular foliage this year.

That’s the prediction of Dan West, one of the state’s leading forestry experts who spends a lot of time in airplanes each August assessing the condition of forests across the state.

“From the air, everything looks very green,” said West, an entomologist with the Colorado State Forest Service and a member of the faculty at Colorado State University. “I was down in Durango last week and looked at the southwest corner and man, they’re green. The fields are green, as opposed to tan like a year ago. Everything looks really beautiful down there.”

“The same is true for the central part of the state,” he continued. “We’ve had above-average precipitation throughout the Gunnison Basin — we’ve had some monsoon rain there in the afternoon — so it looks like we’re gearing up for a really good season.”

The onset of autumn colors is mainly triggered by shorter days and longer nights, but environmental factors also play a role, leading to variations from season to season.

West is predicting a normal season this year, meaning the first signs of a color change — “a hint of yellow,” as he put it — will be seen in the northern regions of the state around Sept. 9. So the peak there would be somewhere between Sept. 16 and 27.

West predicts that the peak on the Interstate 70 corridor will be reached in the last week of September.

Healthy forests create a fantastic foliage display. And as for the aspens specifically, West said they are doing well, with a few exceptions.

“I’ve seen almost no disturbance in the aspen stands,” West said. “When I say disturbance, I mean insects and disease. Some years you have environmental conditions that are perfect for fungal growth on leaves. This year, that didn’t happen. Usually, that’s due to a wet spring followed by very warm weather. This year, we didn’t see that, so we didn’t have any foliar problems — fungi that feed on the leaves of the aspens. We’ve seen almost no foliar problems on aspens.

“There are very small, isolated herds of defoliants,” he added, “but nothing widespread, nothing like in years past when the whole Grand Mesa was affected. This year, that just hasn’t happened. It’s shaping up to be a really good season.”