2021 MD Fall Foliage Peak Map: When Leaf Colors Are Best To View

MARYLAND — The first day of fall 2021 is still a month away, but the autumnal equinox isn't the best measure of when foliage will turn to bright reds, vibrant oranges and sunny yellows in Maryland. It’s not too early to start planning a fall leaf peering tour in Maryland using the 2021 Fall Foliage Prediction Map.

In Maryland, the week of Oct. 25 looks good for a fall leaf viewing trip.

No predictive tool is 100 percent accurate, but using the interactive map released Tuesday can give you a pretty good shot at seeing autumn leaves when they turn their most striking colors.

Some of the top places to see fall leaves in Maryland to consider:

Adkins Arboretum

With its combo of woodlands, wetlands, and meadows, Adkins Arboretum in Caroline County on the Eastern Shore is a magical place to explore. Across its 400 acres, this garden features more than 600 species of plants, ranging from trees and shrubs to wildflowers and grasses.

You can explore all the sights by trekking along the five miles of paths through the grounds of the arboretum. Along the way, you’ll see the mature hardwoods dressed in their fall colors standing amongst the young pines. Watch for birds and wildlife, including beavers, deer, and foxes. Once you’re done, visit the plant sale area to fill your own yard with all your favorite colors.

Turkey Point Lighthouse

Set atop a 100-foot bluff, the Turkey Point Lighthouse in Cecil County puts you way up in the sky where you can get a 360 view of the Chesapeake Bay and all the fall colors across the surrounding landscape. As you take the two-mile trek up to the lighthouse, you’ll get to experience the beauty of Elk Neck State Park while enjoying the breeze from the bay.

Once you reach the lighthouse, take a moment to admire the black walnut tree alongside, which turns a vibrant yellow-orange in the fall months. After you’re done viewing the sights, consider enjoying a picnic lunch under the walnut tree before finishing the hike back to your car.

Patapsco Valley State Park

Stretching 32 miles along the Patapsco River in Baltimore and Howard counties, Patapsco Valley State Park offers some of the best autumn scenery in Maryland. To explore it all, you’ll want to select from their 200 miles of trails rated for beginner to advanced hikers.

The fall colors are in full display along the riverbanks, as well, if you prefer to fish for trout while enjoying the view. The way the golden colors of the huge tulip poplars reflect off the water will undoubtedly leave you breathless. The amber sycamores, orange beech trees, and red oaks look phenomenal as well, especially as a light breeze sends their rainbow of leaves fluttering.

Our state offers some stunning vistas, including several in state parks suggested by Visit Maryland:

• The C&O Canal National Historic Park offers numerous hiking options, such as the strenuous Billy Goat Trail for advanced hikers. The trail rewards hikers with vistas of the surging Potomac River flanked by forests bursting with color.
• Elk Neck State Park located on a peninsula between the Chesapeake Bay and the Elk River combines colorful forests with sandy beaches for great viewing. From the Turkey Point parking lot off Route 272 South, it's an easy one-mile walk to the historic 1833 Turkey Point Lighthouse atop a 100-foot bluff at the southern tip of the Elk Neck Peninsula. Climb 35 feet to its top for a spectacular view of the Bay waters and brilliant fall foliage.
• Patapsco Valley State Park also offers great fall foliage views from the comfort of your car if that's a better fit for you. Drive to Valley Overlook in the Hollofield area right off Route 40. From there you can venture into Ellicott City's Main Street, which has shops and restaurants open in its historic district.
• In the heart of Baltimore County's horse country, Oregon Ridge Park near Cockeysville has hiking trails that showcase a tree-scape of yellow, orange and red.
• Swallow Falls State Park in Garrett County is located nine miles north of Oakland and contains part of the Youghiogheny River, which flows along the park's borders, passing through shaded rocky gorges and creating rippling rapids, and Muddy Creek Falls, a 53-foot waterfall. The 1 1/4 mile trail through Swallow Falls guides hikers to Western Maryland's breath-taking scenery.
• Other areas to visit close to the Baltimore-Washington metro area: Gwynnbrook Wildlife Management Area in Owings Mills, Baltimore County; Sugar Loaf Mountain Natural Resource Area in southern Frederick County; Seneca Creek State Park just southwest of Gaithersburg; and Dierssen Wildlife Management Area situated between the C&O Canal and the Potomac River in Montgomery County, offering first-rate opportunities for waterfowl watching and quiet interludes for strollers along the Canal Tow Path.

David Angotti, an expert on statistics who lives in Tennessee, was in the property management business a decade ago when he created the first Fall Foliage Prediction Map to help visitors plan their Great Smoky Mountains vacations when autumn leaves are the most brilliant.

But then they wanted to know about peak leaf peering times in other parts of Tennessee, so he decided to collect data for the entire country.

To use the map, simply slide the scale to the right to see when leaves will peak in your state. Zero in on your county, and you'll be able to decide whether it's best to plan a northern, southern, eastern or western route.

Map courtesy of SmokyMountains.com

The tool has developed as a fall vacation planning essential. Last year alone, it received more than 5 million views on SmokyMountains.com and about 30 million more on the news websites, including Patch.

Most people use the leaf map to simply check when foliage will peak near their homes, or to plan a leaf peeping trip.

“However, through the years, we have heard some fascinating stories about how the tool was leveraged,” Angotti said in a news release. “Some of our favorites include a bride in the Northeast changing the date of her outdoor wedding, a director scheduling a movie shoot on location based on our predictions and even a grade school teacher planning a trip to a nearby forest.”

In general, leaves are likely to peak later than usual this year because of prolonged drought conditions across a large swath of the United States, Angotti told Patch. In affected states, leaves may turn from green to brown and skip the brilliant color wheel before “giving up” and falling to the ground, Angotti told Patch.

There’s more than shorter days, longer nights and falling temperatures to signal to trees that it’s time to prepare for winter. The predictive map uses a complex algorithm that analyzes several million data points and spits out about 50,000 predictive data pieces.

This allows for a county-by-county forecast on the precise day the peak should occur. This year, the formula will get a midseason update in late September that will pull in the latest data to increase the accuracy and usefulness of the tool.

The major factors that determine the fall foliage peak are sunlight, precipitation, soil moisture and temperature. They come from a variety of sources including historical precipitation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration precipitation forecasts, elevation, actual temperatures, temperature forecasts and average daylight exposure to develop each county’s fall baseline date.

What Causes The Different Colors

You probably remember from science class that the color change all starts with photosynthesis. Leaves constantly churn out chlorophyll — a key component in a plant’s ability to turn sunlight into the glucose it needs to thrive — from spring through early fall. Those cells saturate the leaves, making them appear green to the human eye.

But leaves aren’t green at all. Autumn is the time for leaves’ big reveal: their true color, unveiled as chlorophyll production grinds to a halt. The colors in fall’s breathtaking tapestry are influenced by other compounds, according to the national park’s website.

Beta carotene, the same pigment that makes carrots orange, reflects the yellow and red light from the sun and gives leaves an orange hue.

The production of anthocyanin, which gives leaves their vivid red color, ramps up in the fall, protecting and prolonging the leaf’s life on a tree throughout autumn.

And those yellows that make you feel as if you’re walking in a ray of sunshine?

They’re produced by flavonol, which is part of the flavonoid protein family. It’s always present in leaves but doesn’t show itself until chlorophyll production begins to slow.