Fall colors in northern Utah mountains may peak in the next two weeks
Sep 24, 2024, 10:42 PM | Updated: Sep 25, 2024, 5:02 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The fall colors are starting to appear in Utah’s canyons, and meteorologists, along with foliage predictors, said the next two weeks will be peak viewing time in Utah’s northern mountains.
Right now, colors are a bit dim in lower elevation areas like Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon, but the further up you get in elevation, the richer the leaves appear to be.
“They’re just starting to catch fire,” said Dane Rigby, a local artist who was in Provo Canyon Tuesday painting the falls. “It seems like it’s green for a long time. Then it just explodes and into the color,” he said.
KSL TV was east of Provo Tuesday in Chopper 5 and caught a sea of reds and yellows along the road to Hope Campground near Kyhv Peak Lookout Point.
“The colors up here are really beautiful. The reds and the oranges mixed in with the green and just dazzling,” Rigby said.
Predicting peak times can be difficult, but according to this fall foliage map from Smokey Mountain, peak colors will happen in Utah’s northern mountains in the weeks between Sept. 24 and Oct. 7. Their predictor indicates that by Oct. 14, the northern Wasatch mountains may have peaked but other areas in the northwest quadrant of the state will be near peak.
That means areas like Provo Canyon, American Fork Canyon, and north through Salt Lake and Davis County could see peaks in brightness within the next two weeks.
“You have to watch it carefully,” Rigby advised. “Sometimes it surprises you. Sometimes you know you’re right on. But you just have to kind of watch it like the weather, and see when it’s starting to heat up and when it’s starting to fade off.”
