‘Fall colors are going to be pretty spectacular’: Indiana’s fall foliage peak poised for later arrival in 2025

NASHVILLE, Ind. — The leaves are slowly starting to change across central Indiana, but the peak of the beautiful fall colors will happen a little later this year.

“It’s going to be an interesting fall, you know with the dry summer we’ve had and having no rain for quite a while,” said Matt Rust, executive director of the Brown County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The leaves are actually still very green here.”

Our FOX59/CBS4 meteorologists looked at the data and as of Oct. 7, central Indiana has only had one normal day of temperatures. Twenty-seven days this fall have been above normal while just eight days have been below normal.

It’s also been a very dry summer going into the fall months. Both the higher temperatures and dry conditions can affect when the leaves start to change and how long their fall-like colors will last.

“Right now we are in a pretty dry period this fall which means fall colors could theoretically last (for) less time than they usually do and then if warm temperatures hang around that can delay the start,” said Eli Major, an interpretive naturalist with Brown County State Park and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The good news is, experts said this is nowhere near extreme drought conditions. The DNR said if that were the case, the fall colors would not last.

“If a tree was particularly affected by a drought, the effect would be that its fall colors would last a very brief while and in extreme drought situations and we are nowhere close to that. Leaves can turn from green to brown and just skip a lot of that (color) phase.”

Although the leaves will be changing later this year and may last for a little bit of a shorter amount of time, experts said it will not be much of a noticeable change on when they will reach their peak colors. It will happen in just a few weeks.

“Most people aren’t going to see much of a difference,” Major said. “We would have to have historic conditions to really affect the fall colors.”

The best time to enjoy the fall colors this year will be at the end of October into early November–slightly later than normal. 

“Fall colors are going to be pretty spectacular whether you are on that specific best day or not,” Major said. “Really, if you want to go out and see the leaves, we have about a three-week window.”

There are also a few types of trees that are already showing their bright fall colors. That’s because some trees turn early regardless of the weather. Those include the Sassafras and the Tulip Tree which can be found at Brown County State Park.

“We are going to have beautiful colors here in Brown County and it’s still going to be a great place to visit,” Rust said.

To learn more about Brown County State Park and the best times to visit, click here.