Summer rerun, best weekend of the year?

Time in a bottle

If we could only save this one for the middle of January.

We savor our autumn weekends in Minnesota. Every sunny mild Saturday is a bonus this time of year. It's as if summer won't really ever give way to deep fall and winter. Jack Frost can wait for now.

Yes, I know I said we'd have the best weekend of the year a couple weeks ago. And it was stunning. But this coming weekend may be every bit as beautiful across Minnesota. Throw in the ripening fall color canopy and it will be hard to argue against this as the best weekend of the year.

The elusive fall color "peak" arrives at several locations up north this weekend. Maples are bursting fiery red at Bear Head Lake, Lake Carlos and Itasca state parks. Here's the update from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resrouces park staff at Itasca.

Stunning colors in the understory as the Red and Sugar maples and Paper birch begin to fire off their brilliant fall colors as they move towards peak. The effects of warm, dry, sunny days and cool nights are creating brilliant colors this fall.

What you'll see:

Trees: Brilliant bursts of red and orange-yellow are visible in the tree tops as the Red and Sugar maples begin to reach peak color. These pockets of red are visible across park lakes and ponds.

Shrubs: The most significant color change is currently in the shrub layer. Dogwood species are showing multiple colors ranging from green and violet blends to a deep wine color. Cherry trees are turning color. The Blue beech are displaying their pinkish hue. Arrowwood are a deep purple. The lovely pinkish-red leaves of the Virginia creeper are stunning as this vine winds its way up the dark bark of the White pine.

Southerly flow returns

Life on the back side of a sprawling high pressure system is good in Minnesota. Here's the map animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as lazy southerly winds rule this weekend.

Our fine weather holds into early next week. Temps likely push the 80 degree mark this weekend in much of western Minnesota and the metro.

The longer range output from NOAA's Global Forecast System continues to favor significant cooling, and a chance of metro frost after about Oct. 6. The GFS has a tendency to overdo cold air sometimes in week two, so I'll keep an eye on this to see if it backs off  the magnitude of the cooling in coming days.

Your Supertunias may need a blanket after Oct. 6.

Stay tuned.