#colorado #realestate #breckenridge
The 2023 leaf-peeping season has officially kicked-off in Colorado’s High Country, bringing pockets of fall color to mountainsides across the state.
Thanks to above-average precipitation in past months, forest experts say this year’s ephemeral event is likely to be one of the best in years.
“This year, aspens are just proliferating with all the successful moisture we had over the winter,” said Dan West, entomologist for the Colorado State Forest Service. “I expect the color to be more than we’ve seen in the last few years.”
West, who recently completed an aerial observation of the state’s 24 million acres of forest, said aspen trees haven’t looked this good since 2018, which he called the last great snow year prior to 2023.
The heavy snowfall of winter and spring helped make Colorado drought-free for the first time in four years this July. Though the reprieve didn’t last, it was enough to keep trees from becoming parched. Coupled with a cooler start to summer, the conditions created the perfect environment for thriving forests.
