Fall Colors Start to Emerge Across Michigan, With The Best Views Up North
A warm spell in September slowed the annual changing of the leaves. Colder weather is about to push them along.
People who’ve been anxious to take a road trip to enjoy Michigan’s fall colors can start to relax. The leaves have started to turn in the Detroit area, which is usually the last part of the state to see the change. Normally, most of Michigan has some degree of red, orange and yellow foliage toward the end of September. The most vivid display is usually up north, where the colors typically peak in early October.
Things are a little behind schedule this year.
Tom O’Hare is the chief meteorologist at WWTV and WWUP-TV, channels 9 and 10 based in Cadillac. The CBS affiliate broadcasts to all of northern lower Michigan and the eastern Upper Peninsula. He says autumn hues are emerging after a slow start.
“We had some nice, cool air develop in early September,” O’Hare says. “Then all of a sudden, we had a lot of warm, dry air mid-month.”
He says the higher temperatures and lack of moisture slowed the color change, and also affected their brightness.
“It seems like those trees that started changing a month ago are rather dull,” O’Hare says.
That’s starting to change. According to the station’s fall color map, the best display is in the western Upper Peninsula, where the autumn leaves are at or near peak color. Across the rest of northern Michigan, coverage ranges from 30 to 50 percent, with peak or near-peak color in higher elevations around Cadillac and Gaylord.
Click here for northern Michigan weather forecasts and color updates.
A cold weather system is expected to hit the northern part of the state on the weekend of Oct. 12-13. O’Hare says that should help the colors along.
“High temperatures in the 40s, cloudy skies, cooler nighttime lows will all contribute to making that color change,” O’Hare says.
Click on the player to hear Tom O’Hare speaking with WDET’s Pat Batcheller, and read a transcript, edited for clarity, below.
WDET: Are the fall colors late this year, and if so, why?
Tom O’Hare: The last couple of years, we’ve had these late turnovers, mainly because of the warmth and sunlight coming through in September. We had some nice, cool air develop in early September. Then all of a sudden, we had a lot of warm, dry air mid-month. At this point, we are getting some changeover. In the Lower Peninsula, spots like Cadillac and Gaylord, there’s some very nice color. But it’s not very vivid. The same goes for the Upper Peninsula. You’re getting some color changes. But it seems like those trees that started changing a month ago are rather dull. I’m hoping that in the next week or two, when we get a more abrupt change in the weather, we’ll start to see more of those brighter colors pop out in lower elevations, such as Traverse City and Ludington. They haven’t seen much change yet, but they’re expected to. And hopefully, it’ll be a whole lot brighter.
What affects their brightness or dullness?
For one thing, we had the cool air in early September and we started to see some changes. Then it dried out. It got sunny, we had great temperatures — in the 80s in some spots — that slowed down the change so much that the moisture stopped going to the leaves, and they started drying up a bit. Now that they’re still changing, because we’re getting the cool air again and less sunlight, trees that turn now should have a better color.
How does your station keep track of the colors? Do you get reports from viewers?
Yes. I’ve also visited the U.P. I’ve traveled from Cadillac to see family in the eastern U.P. and friends in the western section toward the Porcupine Mountains. And viewers have sent us pictures. The peak colors so far have been in the western U.P. They’re looking great right now. Northern Wisconsin is beautiful. As you move east, we expect near-peak colors soon. In the Lower Peninsula, the best color is mainly in high spots. I think we’re going to see the best color in the northern Lower Peninsula by late October.
The forecast in northern Michigan calls for much colder weather Oct. 12-13, with snow possible in the western U.P. How will that affect the colors?
That should move things along very rapidly. High temperatures in the 40s, cloudy skies, cooler nighttime lows will all contribute to making that color change.
