What’s The 2024 Minnesota Fall Colors Outlook?

Fall in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is hard to beat. Minnesota's diverse forests, numerous lakes, and plentiful trails and parks make it a destination for people from far and wide each autumn.

While last year the fall colors got off to a bit of an earlier start, it feels like this fall things are a little later than usual. It looks like it is just all in our heads though.

That might be because of the summer-like weather we've been having so far this fall, perhaps? The Minnesota DNR shows that we're only slightly behind where we were last year so far - but way ahead of where we were in 2022.

With trees starting to change to their fall hues, what can we expect this year? Here's what experts are saying.

How will Minnesota's fall colors be in 2024?

After a couple of years of drought conditions during the summer, this year was a different story. The amount of rain we get during the growing season plays a big role in the fall colors show.

READ MORE: This is the most underrated fall colors drive in Northern Minnesota

The Minnesota DNR says that our wet spring may have caused some slight issues due to fungal leaf diseases caused by the fall colors. While there may be some impacts from this, the DNR says there doesn't appear to be any significant leaf loss. Beyond that, the lack of drought conditions, according to the DNR, means there is a better potential for the trees to "maximize their color production this fall".

Besides the growing season, another major component is the weather as we head into fall. the DNR says sunny days and cool nights without major temperature swings or early hard frost are best for a good show.

So far, we haven't really been seeing those cool nights but we have been seeing sunny days. Temperatures are expected to cool down for the end of September, which could set things up for a great show to end the month and head into October.

When will peak fall colors happen in Minnesota?

As always, this will depend on where you are. Northern parts of the state see an earlier peak than southern parts of the state. The Minnesota DNR has rolled out a new tool for this year to help make leaf-peeping plans.

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The new tool doesn't necessarily offer a prediction specific to this year, but rather offers an idea of when the peak usually happens based on historical averages.

Here are the average peak dates across the state:

• Northern Minnesota: Normal peak starts to happen between September 27 and October 2 north of Highway 2
• Central Minnesota: Average peak fall colors start to creep into Central Minnesota between October 2 and October 6
• Southern Minnesota: Peak fall colors start to creep southward into the Twin Cities area and places south between October 8 and October 13, with far southeastern Minnesota tending to hold out a little longer. Peak fall colors in areas like Rochester and other places in that part of the state can extend into mid-October, between the 14th and 18th.