Southern Alaska’s 2007 fall colors spectacular and at their peak; snow levels falling in region’s mountains
I’ve just returned from southern Alaska and wanted to share some photos I snapped over this weekend (October 6-7) of this year’s fall colors. Some of the images you see here were taken along the New Seward Highway which parallels the Turnagain Arm between Anchorage and Girdwood—a community 36 miles southeast of Anchorage. The region features a mix of spruce and deciduous trees. It’s the deciduous trees which change color in autumn. Given the species of trees there, fall colors feature vivid yellow and orange colors rather than the yellow, orange and red mix which occurs here in the Chicago metro area. I can tell you this year’s display, which is peaking in the area from Anchorage southward, is nothing short of spectacular.
“Termination dust”, the term used to cover the first snow cover of the cold season, is creeping down the mountains as snow levels and temperatures in the region drop. Interior and north Alaskan temperatures have fallen to single digits with increasing regularity in the past week and snow now dusts or covers the ground in much of the state’s interior. Note: Much of the Chicago area is two to three weeks from its peak autumn colors while fall colors are peaking (or in spots have just peaked) across northern Wisconsin and are on the verge of peaking in the southern third of the state.
-Tom Skilling
Photo Courtesy: Tom Skilling!