Colorado leaf peepers might get spoiled this fall, according to a state expert on the seasonal display.

“We’re going into this season looking really good,” Dan West, an entomologist for the Colorado State Forest Service, said in a news release. “It looks like everything’s setting up perfectly to have a really good aspen show across much of the state.”

From his latest aerial surveying, he noted aspen stands “greener than I’ve seen in quite some time.” That’s a strong indicator of health — what the State Forest Service calls “critical for aspens to display strong colors and retain leaves later into the fall.”

The cool, wet start to the summer responsible for pulling much of the state out of drought conditions is also largely responsible for West’s optimistic prediction.

Too much moisture can “actually lead to below-average leaf seasons,” the release noted, as fungal spores that infect aspens can thrive in the summer’s warmer temperatures. Sustained heat across the Front Range’s lower elevations allowed those pathogens to germinate in trees such as cottonwoods, the release indicated.

But in the higher elevations where aspens live, “there was never enough sustained heat for these pathogens to thrive,” West said, “which means that the leaves in the mountains are going into the fall healthier than they’ve been in years past.”

Aspen leaves stock up on chlorophyll through spring and summer, resulting in the green we see. As the days become shorter and cooler, that production slows to a halt, leading to the leaves turning yellow or red.

The timing and vibrancy of the show tend to be different across elevations and latitudes.

Typically, peak viewing season occurs mid- to late-September in the northern part of the state from Steamboat Springs through Fort Collins; late September for the state’s middle section through Grand Junction, Crested Butte and Colorado Springs; and late September to early October for the south and southwest, including the San Juan Mountains and Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Drought conditions continue to cling to the southwest. West said that could mean an earlier or later change for colors in that region.

And the same, hard-to-predict factors apply for this season: Wind or a sudden frost can cause leaves to drop.

“If you always go to the same area, and it’s not as great as the year before, continue on,” West said, “because looking at the state as a whole, the aspens are looking really, really good.”