Fall is here, but fall color is behind

Fall is officially here. The autumnal equinox started at 8:54 p.m. Saturday evening. This is the time of year when the sun is directly over the equator and over the next three months goes on a journey south of the equator leaving America with less direct rays of sun. 

The start of fall came with our first real chilly blast of the season. Morning temperatures on both Saturday and Sunday morning's reached the 30s in a few spots and 40s for others. In Milwaukee it was the first time in over 100 days that we woke up to temperatures in the 40s which is actually just a week ahead of our average first instance of 40° lows. 

Overall, the summer was warm and mainly wet. Because of this we are behind on leaves changing color throughout the state. Only a few counties in northern Wisconsin have any noticeable changing leaves and Douglas County in the north west corner of the state is the only place registering over 50% coverage of peak color. 

According to Travel Wisconsin, northern Wisconsin should be experiencing peak color right now through the end of the month. Central Wisconsin starts to see peak color settle in over the next couple of weeks and for us in southern Wisconsin peak typically doesn't occur until October. 

Expect leaves to steadily change color the next couple of weeks across the state as temperatures stay on the cooler side. Most of Wisconsin has a 40 to 50 percent chance of below-average temperatures through the end of the month.