Fall Color Map (MN DNR)
My northern Minnesota back yard nearing peak fall colors last year. (Aaron J. Brown)
UPDATE (Sept. 30): We have full peak colors in Northern Minnesota, and I’d argue we’re past peak in most of the parts that show dark red on the DNR maps. Any leaves still changing are only replacing leaves that have fallen. We lost quite a bit of the “canopy” on Sunday and Monday. You’ll still see plenty of beauty, but every bit of it is now on borrowed time.
UPDATE (Sept. 26): Peak colors are here. This weekend, Sept. 26-28, will be the best weekend of the year for viewing autumn foliage in the state of Minnesota, certainly in the North. You might get another good weekend down south, but wind and rain next week figure to strip the leaves here in my neighborhood.
It will be a perfect, heavenly weekend, ideal for a road trip to Park Rapids to see the Great Northern Radio Show, or listen on the radio as you check out the leaves by sunset.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has been reporting on Minnesota fall colors across the state. Thus, the annual color watch has begun.
The month of August brought the softening of the greens of the forest. The verdant June leaves faded into a duller, more yellow hue, like the difference between a contemporary photograph and an older sepia-toned one. Here at MinnesotaBrown.com world headquarters at Itasca County in Northern Minnesota, we see sprigs of full yellow birches and early red maples. The yard has a thin but thickening layer of leaves on it, mostly premature oak and basswood castoffs.
September brought a quick change, and now it appears that most of the leaves will be in full color or off the branches by the time we hit Oct. 1. Few leaves will last long after that.
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