Leaf peepers around Baltimore and Annapolis are catching prime color this week, with bold maples and ochre oaks reaching their peak even as the mountains to the west have already dropped their show. Areas west of Frederick are past peak, while the Eastern Shore is just now reaching its own peak foliage, according to the latest state assessment covering the week.
DNR's Nov. 5 Report Paints a State Still Mid-Transition
The breakdown comes from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which published its Fall Foliage 2026 map dated November 5. The agency's own summary describes a state still spread across several stages at once: spent color in the far west, a current peak around the Baltimore-Annapolis corridor, and the Eastern Shore just arriving at its best display. DNR shared the update on social media, with the post going out at 12:10 UTC on Thursday under the handle @marylanddnr.
That framing stands in contrast to a separate foliage forecast from More Than Just Parks, which as of Thursday estimated that all 24 of Maryland's counties — 100 percent — had already moved past peak. The tracker is a forecasting tool rather than a field survey like DNR's, and the two accounts were not reconciled in the available reporting, so both are presented here without picking a winner. More Than Just Parks does note that four of its 24 county forecasts were adjusted based on input from people who had actually observed the trees this season.
Why the Timing Looks Different Depending on the Source
Part of the discrepancy may trace to how each source builds its model. More Than Just Parks says this autumn is running about three days behind schedule based on September temperatures, and that its published dates already account for the delay. The same tracker estimates that coastal areas typically turn about four days after inland woods at the same latitude, a lag it attributes to lingering ocean heat and later hard frosts — a detail that could help explain why the Eastern Shore was still described as reaching peak in DNR's account even as western counties had already gone brown.
According to the tracker, most of Maryland was projected to hit peak sometime between October 24 and November 1, with Garrett County leading the way around October 14 and Frederick County trailing the rest of the state with a projected peak around November 2. More Than Just Parks also flagged the week of October 29 as the stretch when the largest share of the state was likely to be at peak simultaneously.
How the Season Progressed Through October
Earlier state reports tracked the color moving steadily eastward through the fall. Back on October 8, an earlier DNR report described sunny days, cool nights and a heavy frost accelerating leaf change in Western Maryland, with that region expected to hold its peak into the following week while Washington County leaves were just beginning to turn. By October 30, conditions had shifted again: The Bay Net reported that Garrett County had already gone past peak while Washington, Baltimore and Cecil counties were sitting right at peak. The same report described Baltimore County as near peak, with additional oaks expected to add color over the following couple of weeks, and noted the lower Eastern Shore was only just starting to change in earnest. Somerset County, per that report, was not quite near peak but close.
Looking back a year, a DNR report dated November 6, 2025, described a similar east-west split: western and central Maryland were well past peak, while the Eastern Shore held onto its color with sweet gums and black cherry trees turning orange and yellow. That pattern of the Shore lagging behind the rest of the state appears to be a recurring feature of Maryland's fall rather than a one-year fluke.
Fungi Fest Caps the Weekend on the Lower Shore
Down in Worcester County, the changing season is bringing out more than leaves. Mushrooms are reportedly sprouting at Pocomoke River State Park, which is set to host its third annual Fungi Fest on Saturday, giving fall foliage watchers in that corner of the Eastern Shore another reason to get outdoors this weekend.
