With similar timing as 2015 we had our first snow on October 27th,  ending the glorious fall colours of 2016.  Here are some examples of the transition.

On the back road behind north of Harris Lake Road.  Further on I met Jurgen(s?) a retiree from the Falconbridge Smelter.  It turned out that we had many mutual friends.

Crossing at Hwy 607 showing the changing colour of the trembling aspens mixed with some white pines and sugar maples.

Blackberries leaves showing their characteristic purple before showing a few days of red before falling.

The seeds are maturing in their various ways before being spread by the wind with little parachutes in the case of fall asters,

or big fluffy plumes in the case of fireweed,

or by animals, as these burdock seeds stick to their fur coats:

While some diehard plants like this Oxeye Daisy persists in blooming late in season:

Some mushrooms are spreading spores … like these shaggy manes fruiting in a Riverside Drive lawn …

Adjacent to these unknown gilled mushrooms:

which seem to be harvested a day later:

The clear northern sky is a harbinger of a cold north wind, which will cause snow as warm wet southern air flows over it.

Here are some photos of the results of the snowfall taken early in the morning of October 28th …

The fluffies from these milkweed seedpods form good structures for condensing frost….

And the goldenrods still have their summer-ish glow.

but the asters still seem autumn-ish cold …

This Acer rubrum leaf has turned yellow but displays the red maple leaf shape and the brilliant red stem…

Jack Frost visited this blackberry leaf …

very long dendrites on this Staghorn Sumac branch…

This Red Maple is behaving as advertised….

A bit of early snow near the gate of the house at the end of the Drive…

This Redtailed Hawk ( I think!) paused for a few minutes on its annual trip south.

Riverside Road showing the melting of the first snowfall of the season …

Meanwhile …. where are those Monarchs that we saw just six weeks ago?

First Monarchs Have Arrived at Wintering Sanctuaries

By selecting “Week ending Oct 17” it seems the Monarchs started to cross the Rio Grande, about two weeks ago.

This is a nice animation of the fall migration.

Amazing.