Fall Foliage Map 2023: See When Autumn Leaves Peak In IL

ILLINOIS — Weather conditions this spring and summer have a big effect on the fall colors we’ll see in Illinois in a few weeks.

Brilliant tree canopies start with wet weather in the late spring through mid-summer, according to Paul Pastelok, the senior meteorologist and long-range forecast expert at AccuWeather, which recently released its 2023 fall foliage forecast. Dry, sunny days and cooler nights in September also help make colors more brilliant, Pastelok said.

The forecast suggests leaf peepers in Illinois should see a mixed display. Conditions in the northern tip of the state indicate a vibrant display, while the middle looks typical and the southern part of Illinois might be in for a dull display. The peak is expected mid to late-October.

If you’re planning to travel:

Late September and early October are the best times to see fall foliage in New England, the Upper Midwest, and Colorado and Utah, when aspen groves are expected to be their most brilliant.

Fall colors are expected to reach their peak by mid-October in the Northeast, Appalachians, Ohio Valley and across the Midwest, according to the forecast.

Foliage in Washington, Oregon and California should peak during the last half of October.

Areas from the central U.S. to the Gulf Coast and part of the coastal mid-Atlantic won’t see leaves peak until late October and the first few weeks of November. Colors are expected to be muted in about a dozen states, though, because of this summer’s long hot spells across the southern U.S. from Texas to Alabama and northward into Illinois and Indiana, Pastelok said.

Trees are already stressed, he explained, and severe weather during the first half of fall could blow leaves off trees around the expected peak time.

“On top of that, we could see a big change in October where some cold air can come down causing an early frost,” Pastelok added.