Michigan wllz

A hillside above Lake Leelanau, last September.

We get a lot of calls from people – an unbelievable number of calls, actually – asking when the peak fall color season will be this year. And the really honest answer is the one nobody wants to hear, which is: “Heck, we don’t know!”

This is a complicated place, weather-wise – and when it comes to fall color, that’s actually a good thing. Thanks to our coastal location and diverse landscape, the fall color season around Traverse City usually lasts a bit longer than in neighboring areas. Color changes usually begin in mid-September in the higher elevations south and east of Grand Traverse Bay, especially the steep inland valleys of the Boardman, Jordan and Manistee rivers. By the end of the month, when those areas are experiencing peak colors, the coastal forests along the Lake Michigan shoreline and the larger inshore lakes are just beginning to show good coloration and can often continue to grow in intensity well into October.

So, a good time to come is between mid-September and mid-October. Usually. On the other hand, here we are in mid-September and the color’s only just getting started. So who knows? This year maybe it could last into November. Wouldn’t that be something?

Read more of Mike Norton’s blog at blog.visittraversecity.com/