Fall colors peak north; Twin Cities start to pop this weekend

Minnesota’s fall color palette is a changing montage of reds, yellow, and greens as we move through mid-October.

Friday’s latest fall color update from the Minnesota DNR shows colors are now at or past peak in the northern half of Minnesota. Most of the trees and landscape in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota range from 25 to 50 percent color right now. (See the map above.)

Based on my bike tour Friday afternoon, I can confirm that color range in the southwestern Twin Cities. A few trees have vibrant colors and are quickly losing leaves. But many trees are are still mostly green.

Later-than-normal fall color change

Colors around Minnesota this fall are peaking later than normal once again. The last three Septembers have been very warm. This year Minnesota basically had two Augusts. Temperatures in the Twin Cities ran 4.1 degrees warmer than normal in September 2025.

And we’ve now passed the midway point of October with temperatures running 7.8 degrees warmer than normal so far this month in the Twin Cities! Temperatures are running 5 to 10 degrees warmer than normal across the entire Midwest over the past 30 days.

So our trend of increasingly warmer fall seasons in Minnesota continues. And that’s driving fall colors later into the season again this year.

On the map below, check out the 10-year average fall color average for Oct. 18 and compare it to this year’s map above!

The Twin Cities will likely see peak color in the next one to two weeks. If we don’t get any huge wind storms to strip leaves form the trees we could see one of the most colorful Halloweens in memory.

Stay tuned.