As our weather remains quiet and pleasant right now, we can focus our attention on the bright colors of the early fall season.  While we still have at least a week or so before most of our local area enjoys the peak foliage colors, there are a few spots locally that are beginning to look extra bright and beautiful.  Here’s a look at the latest fall foliage report for our area.  If you’re thinking about taking a drive or hike this weekend to take in the pretty colors, you may need to bring jacket along as temperatures will be a bit cooler, but you’ll be able to leave the rain gear at home.  In fact, the longer range outlook is indicating that all of next week and the following weekend look to feature more of this dry weather with comfortable early fall temperatures in store for us.

The latest Minnesota DNR foliage map. Between 10% and 50% of the foliage in our corner of the state has changed so far.

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I know it’s only mid September…kind of early to be thinking fall foliage, but some trees are beginning to change in the area and it’s probably time to map out your weekend driving or biking tours to check out those colors.  Here’s a link to the DNR’s website that tracks our colors especially around the various state parks.  Our local area won’t see the full glory peak autumn colors until early October in most cases, but if you’re planning a trip up north in the next couple of weeks, this will be a good resource.   Of course, when you do see some beautiful colors and take some pictures, don’t forget to share them with us on our Facebook page or you can email them to us at www.kttc.com/weather.

Dates for Average Peak Colors in the State of Minnesota

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It’s awfully hard to use the word “rain” when you’re pushing nearly a month without a drop of it…and the chances aren’t the greatest.

Rephrasing, there’s a decent chance of seeing scattered showers late Monday night through midday Tuesday, but they will not be soakers. The heart of the system will take a dive to the south and west, sweeping the best rainfall with it.

Welp, in other news, Fall officially starts Tuesday! To celebrate the season – and why not, with the dry, mild weather we’re having? – you can send us your Fall Photos! Email us the picture, your name, and where you took it – we’ll start displaying them on air and on the blog, soon. I was in the Boundary Waters for the past several days and was surprised to see very little color. The sumac is starting to become brilliant, but aside from a few bold birches and maples, there are some sheepish trees up there yet.

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While Randy and his oldest son enjoyed a nice country trip on Saturday, my lovely other half and I enjoyed our own adventure to Mazeppa on Sunday to pick some apples and pumpkins. It couldn’t have been any better, and you all know how fantastic it felt with 60s and sunshine. The trees are now pretty much past peak, but there was still plenty of color and plenty of crunchy leaves to walk on (oh yeah - and the apples were delicious, too)!

Lots of pumpkins!

Pickin’ out some juicy apples, with Mazeppa in the distance.

How about this one? This one? No, this one!

OK, so back to fall colors:

Featured on the NewsCenter Today:

Nate took this on Sunday near La Crescent.

Debbie took this picture of the tree in her backyard.

Featured on the NewsCenter at Noon:

A plethora of colors in this Elgin backyard!

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Featured on the NewsCenter at 6pm:

Check out this burning bush! Now that’s bright.

William captured this on the farm this foggy, still, frosty morning (actually quite beautiful, except for real our planting season is now over).

Featured on the NewsCenter at 10pm:

Sheri took this of the bluff that overlooks the Upper Iowa River. Pick the color and you’ll probably find it there!

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Featured on the NewsCenter at Noon:

Jerry took this near Highway 52 in Oronoco. Notice not just the trees changing colors, but the grasses, too!

Arlouene snapped this on Thursday morning in Preston – look closely – you can see the frost!

Featured on the NewsCenter Today:

This is a picture of the hill near the home of Sammie from Stockton. Imagine coming home to these colors everyday! Sammie says a lot of the leaves are falling off now, but are still very vibrant.

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Just to clarify, we’ve been sticking the fall photos not only on this homepage, but on our Fall Colors page, too. There’s a link on the right hand side of this homepage, or you can get there by clicking here. You can also find links to the foliage reports in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin on that page if you scroll to the bottom.

Shown October 15th on the NewsCenter at Noon:

Jeannie took this on October 11th as the Hiawathaland Corvette Club went on a run from Owatonna to Trempealeau, WI. Jeannie says they took some of the back roads and saw some terrific scenery and fall colors.

I can only agree with Jeannie and the others sending in their fall photos, the color is spectacular around southeast Minnesota. I was able to get out to Winona on Tuesday, and even made it over to Perrot State Park in Trempealeau. I would share the 100 photos I took, but it would be a little excessive.

Posted under KTTC, weather

The Storm Prediction Center has stuck a good chunk of Minnesota and Iowa in a slight risk for severe weather today. When’s the last time we talked about a risk of severe weather? Sparring an extensive moment googling the weather blog, it’s been at least a couple of weeks. Anyway, while I’m not anticipating a widespread severe weather event today, there could be a few storms on the stronger side this evening and through the early overnight hours. High winds would be the biggest threat in our area. Enjoy a breezy and warm first full day of Autumn!

Speaking of which – I saw some trees taking their cues for their fall show during a trip I just took to Wisconsin. It got me thinking about where the fall colors are. They’re starting to appear: tinges of oranges and yellows and reds starting to glow admist the green foliage. We’ll see what’s regarded as the “peak” foliage times from the end of September to mid-October (see below). The DNR has a good list of conditions that affect the overall color and brightness of the leaves. You can read about that by clicking here.

(Left: Colors as of September 22nd; Right: Average Peak for MN)

What are you finding for fall colors? Email us your photos and tell us where they are at. We’ll try to get a good collection going, maybe good enough to inspire you to take a quick weekend getaway.

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