Where the colour is now, and where it’ll be next.
26 locations, forecast on a daily calculation of current versus historical weather, webcams we measure daily, the official Ontario Parks status and our community of human reporters.
Recent reader photos · last 7 days
Copeland Forest, Simcoe County
Lise · Aug 29 · 5 days ago
Hover a dot for its name, tap it for the forecast
This Saturday, September 5
The most colour so far is Spencer Gorge and Dundas Peak, at 2.8 out of 10.
Green is not started yet, red is peak, brown is leaves downHollow means predicted, not yet observedTrips available at this location
Escarpment
Reservation only through Hamilton Conservation Authority.
The model puts colour at 0 per cent, with 0 per cent of the leaves down, which reads as no change.
Predicted by the ontariofall.com forecast · week of Sep 1
Nothing reported here yet.
Colour starts in the north and reaches Toronto about a month later. Drag the slider above, select a location, or play it through and you’ll see what’s peaking when.
Help improve the model
Been out this week? A report takes about thirty seconds and goes straight into the next forecast. Reader reports tell us what a camera and a weather station cannot, and every one is verified by a human.
Sat, September 5 and Sun, September 6 · past 8.0 is worth the driveAll 26 places, with the source behind each one
Not worth the drive. Still green on Sep 5, sun.
Not worth the drive. Still green on Sep 5, sun.
Not worth the drive. Still green on Sep 5, sun.
Not worth the drive. Still green on Sep 5, mixed sun and cloud.
Not worth the drive. Still green on Sep 5, mixed sun and cloud.
Not worth the drive. Still green on Sep 5, sun.
Colour from the Ontario Parks fall colour report, Sep 1, and the ontariofall.com model. Weather by Weather data by Open-Meteo.com, CC BY 4.0.
| Location | Right now | Predicted peak |
|---|---|---|
| Algonquin, Highway 60 corridor | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 0% colour change at Algonquin | Sep 27–Oct 5 ± 6.8 days |
| Arrowhead | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 10% colour change at Arrowhead | Sep 27–Oct 5 ± 6.8 days |
| Oxtongue River and Ragged Falls | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 10% colour change at Oxtongue River-Ragged Falls | Sep 25–Oct 3 ± 6.5 days |
| Dorset Lookout Tower | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Sep 1 · 0% colour change at Lake St. Peter | Oct 4–Oct 12 ± 8.3 days |
| Muskoka, Huntsville and Lake of Bays | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 12 · 0% colour change at Oastler Lake | Oct 3–Oct 11 ± 8.1 days |
| Haliburton Highlands | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Sep 1 · 0% colour change at Lake St. Peter | Oct 6–Oct 14 ± 8.6 days |
| Temagami | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Sep 1 · 0% colour change at Kap-Kig-Iwan | Sep 30–Oct 8 ± 7.7 days |
| Killarney | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 0% colour change at Killarney | Oct 1–Oct 9 ± 7.8 days |
| Killbear | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 26 · 0% colour change at Killbear | Sep 30–Oct 8 ± 7.7 days |
| Silent Lake | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Sep 1 · 0% colour change at Silent Lake | Oct 5–Oct 13 ± 8.4 days |
| Bonnechere and the Barron Canyon | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 28 · 10% colour change at Bonnechere | Sep 30–Oct 8 ± 7.2 days |
| Bon Echo | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 12 · 0% colour change at Bon Echo | Oct 8–Oct 16 ± 8.9 days |
| Frontenac | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Sep 1 · 0% colour change at Frontenac | Oct 6–Oct 14 ± 8.2 days |
| Kawarthas | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Sep 1 · 0% colour change at Petroglyphs | Oct 9–Oct 17 ± 9 days |
| Awenda | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 24 · 0% colour change at Awenda | Oct 5–Oct 13 ± 8.4 days |
| Copeland Forest, Oro-Medonte | Starting Verified on the ground by Lise, Aug 29 | Oct 2–Oct 10 ± 7.6 days |
| Spencer Gorge and Dundas Peak | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 0% colour change at Bronte Creek | Oct 9–Oct 17 ± 8.6 days |
| Mono Cliffs and Hockley Valley | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 0% colour change at Mono Cliffs | Oct 13–Oct 21 ± 9 days |
| Rattlesnake Point, Milton | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 0% colour change at Bronte Creek | Oct 14–Oct 22 ± 9 days |
| Bruce Peninsula and Lion's Head | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 30 · 10% colour change at Sauble Falls | Oct 1–Oct 9 ± 7.2 days |
| Scenic Caves and the Blue Mountains | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 26 · 0% colour change at Wasaga Beach | Oct 11–Oct 19 ± 9 days |
| Forks of the Credit | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 31 · 0% colour change at Forks of the Credit | Oct 16–Oct 24 ± 9 days |
| Rouge and the Don Valley, Toronto | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 12 · 0% colour change at Darlington | Oct 19–Oct 27 ± 9 days |
| Sandbanks and Prince Edward County | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 12 · 0% colour change at Sandbanks | Oct 20–Oct 28 ± 9 days |
| Lake Superior | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 26 · 0% colour change at Lake Superior - South | Sep 27–Oct 5 ± 7.2 days |
| Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay | No change Source: Ontario Parks Fall Colour Report, Aug 20 · 0% colour change at Sleeping Giant | Sep 24–Oct 2 ± 6.8 days |
We watch three things, every day, in all 26 places. Here is each of the three, as it last stood at Frontenac.
0 of the 15 nights since Aug 20 were cold
Open-Meteo, pulled daily
100 per cent of the canopy still reads green
21 days of frames to Sep 2 · Highway 401 West of Sir John MacDonald Boulevard
“Leaves are just starting to change in some places. Other trees are selectively completely red.”
Isaac, Aug 26
Reviewed by a person before it counted · and the Ontario Parks report said 0 per cent at Frontenac on Sep 1
Anything we could not observe is labelled predicted. Every Monday’s forecast is frozen, and in November we publish how we did. Under the hood it is a logistic phenology model, fitted per location against ten years of climate normals, then corrected every day by a greenness index and by human reports. The full methodology is here, including what it gets wrong.
Weather · Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0 · cameras · Ontario 511 (MTO), Windy, NAV CANADA · colour status · Ontario Parks · reports · moderated by a person
It moves from north to south. Algonquin and Killarney typically peak in the last days of September and the first week of October, Muskoka and Haliburton through the first two weeks of October, and southern Ontario including Toronto's ravines from mid to late October.
The closest colour to the city is along the Niagara Escarpment: Rattlesnake Point in Milton, Forks of the Credit, Mono Cliffs and Hockley Valley, Spencer Gorge and Dundas Peak, and Scenic Caves in the Blue Mountains. They turn later than the north, usually through the middle of October, so they are the right answer once Algonquin is past.
The Rouge and the Don Valley inside Toronto are the last to turn, often into late October.
The Friends of Algonquin have recorded the sugar maple peak on the Highway 60 corridor every year since 1973. Across those 53 seasons the mean peak is 27 September, and the record runs from 15 September at the earliest to 9 October at the latest.
That is the historical record rather than a forecast for this year. Algonquin is the only location on this site whose baseline rests on a record that long; the rest are estimated as offsets from it, and each page says which it is.
Roughly 10 to 14 days in one location, though wind and rain can end it early. That is why we check against webcams and reports rather than trusting the calendar.
Yes, under a different name. The Ontario Parks fall colour report is the province's official weekly status, filed by park staff, and it is one of the four sources here. This site is a daily forecast built on top of it: it predicts the week each location will peak rather than only recording where the colour has already reached.
Fall colors and leaf peeping are the American terms for the same thing, and this is that report. Ontario spells it colour, and everything here is Ontario.
Four sources, and every reading on the site records which one it came from and when. The Ontario Parks fall colour report, which parks file themselves. Public webcams, read every day for how green the trees still look. Open-Meteo weather, for cold nights, September warmth, drought and frost. And reports sent in by people who went and looked, each one moderated by a person before it appears.
Anything we could not observe is labelled predicted, on every chip, every marker and every week of the season slider.
Honestly, not very far. Inside two weeks the forecast is reasonable; beyond that the confidence band widens. After the season we score every prediction against what happened.
Yes, and they carry real weight: a verified report from the ground outranks the model for that location. Say where you were, what the colour was doing and when you saw it, and add a photo if you have one.
Hiking and paddling weekends run by Wilderness Union, a Toronto outdoor community for ages 18 to 45. Transport, gear and guides included.
See the adventuresOr see every fall trip in date order, with the colour forecast for each destination.
See the adventures