Alaska/Yukon/B.C. in Autumn

I have been following with interest some other threads about Fall colors in

Denali. My wife and I are planning a 30-35 day driving tour from Chicago to

Alaska and back for next Autumn/September. Out thinking is to go north first and

then head south slowly because we might hit better color in more places. Our

question is when to leave so as to start our trip south. So we really have two

questions. 1. When might we expect peak color in the Denali area (not only the

park, but along the Denali Highway, where we plan to spend some time)? People

who know Alaska seem to be saying late Autumn - early Sept. When we were in

Alaska in 2001, however, we thought the tundra color (more important than trees

in most of interior Alaska, I think) was better around Sept. 12 than around end

of August. 2. Second question: do we run any danger of weather problems for

driving if we are on, for instance, the Cassiar Highway as late as Sept. 20-25?

Thanks for any help.

It took 17 days to drive from Tampa, Florida, to Fairbanks in 1984...

Chicago should be about 4 days closer.

Each season in Alaska depends on when the fronts move in from the north, so you would probably keep an eye on the mid-August [2008] weather conditions for a wag on the expected autumn situation. (The first year of three in Alaska, it 'frosted' on 4 July, but it did warm up again before the first snowfall.)

We live just outside of Fairbanks. Most years, tundra colors around the Arctic Circle and in Denali Park and Kluane/St. Elias in the Yukon (where we prefer to go) peak about the first of September +/- a week. Lower areas peak about a week later. This year the colors in Fairbanks are about a week late; the tundra is perfect today, but many of the leaves are still green (whereas most years at this time they are several days past the point of all turning yellow). The Denali highway is usually at its peak the 1st week of September, but often good for another week or so.

Weather problems vary with the year. In 1992 (or maybe 1991) Fairbanks got almost 2 feet of snow the first week of September -- the leaves were all on the trees and we lost power for 2 weeks. OTOH, last year it was in the 70's the first week of October. This has been an unusually warm year -- we may go 5 months without running the furnace, whereas some years we go less than 2.

Next year may be completely different of course :-)

Two years ago I drove to Fairbanks from California via the Alaska Highway. I arrived in

Fairbanks on Sept 2, stayed 2 weeks then drove back the same way. On the way up there was

great color. On the way down, there were no leaves. Interestingly, the color was also elevation

dependent. Going through the mountains produced several different stages of "Fall." Weather

was generally good except for a lot of rain in the northern Rockies going up. I skipped the

Cassiar Highway going down 'cause the tires were getting bald, and a lot of places were

closed up.