Fall lived up to its name in the Twin Cities on Monday.
Golden leaves coaxed by strong northwest winds were parted from their summer moorings and showered down on streets and sidewalks, giving metro residents a sudden heads-up on the autumn chores that await.
"This morning my wife said, 'Listen to the leaves on the rooftop. It's like it's raining,'" said naturalist and Waconia resident Jim Gilbert. "Every place I went, there was striking fall color and leaves falling."
Gilbert declared that Monday in fact was the Twin Cities' fall color peak, as the yellowed ash leaves -- always the first to drop -- fluttered down against a backdrop of red and orange sugar maples, golden cottonwoods and silver maples, oaks just beginning to change, and a wealth of green.
That peak, by his estimation, came two days earlier than last year's, which followed another late summer drought. And, as happened last year, the spectacle belied expectations that fall would be early and drab because of the early spring and late summer dryness.
"I was proven wrong," Gilbert said. "I was just mesmerized this morning. It was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a lot of duller tones -- a lot of brown. I was expecting leaves to curl up and fall off. This has way exceeded my expectations for beauty."
And there's plenty more to come, of course.
"Looking out my window, there's still plenty of green," said assistant state climatologist Pete Boulay. "I can't see through the woods ... yet."
