National Scenic Riverway·Minnesota, Wisconsin·4,903 acres
Lower Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway
Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET
Peak color8 OctAim for 7 to 10 Oct
In the river today, Sep 25Starting to turn
Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.
No new reports from the ground here this week.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecast
Around Lower Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway Washington County holds most of the river and is starting to turn today. Polk County, to the northeast, is 2 days ahead. Chisago County, to the north, is 1 day ahead.
That’s 2 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Wednesday 7 October to Thursday 8 October
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
Where to drive
Route 13 (Great River Road), about 122 miles
What turns
northern red oak, white oak, red maple, sugar maple, shagbark hickory
What turns, and when
northern red oak26%
white oak23%
red maple16%
sugar maple13%
shagbark hickory11%
American basswood6%
Also named across Wisconsin, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, Paper Birch.
Wisconsin's Northwoods produce vivid sugar maple orange against birch gold and the dark green of hemlock and spruce, while the Mississippi River bluffs add a warm oak-and-hickory palette.
Across Wisconsin as a whole: Late September in the Northwoods, mid-October in Door County, early-to-mid October in the Driftless Area, late October in the south.
This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. We score it here against 13 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 9 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made
