Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
No new reports from the ground here this week.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.
Around Tonto National Forest Gila County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Pinal County, to the south, is 5 days behind. Coconino County, to the north, is 22 days ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 2,086 to 7,077 feet. That’s 17 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 18, the low ground holds until about Nov 1, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,000 to 3,000 foot band.
7,000–8,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 186%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 217%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2418%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2723%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3024%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 119%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the forest’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the forest stands in it.
See it now PhenoCam Network, Sycamore Creek camera, 26 km away, captured Sep 25.
That’s 2 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Also named across Arizona, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, Gambel Oak, Arizona Sycamore.
Aspens on the San Francisco Peaks turn gold above 8,000 feet, Gambel oaks go orange and russet at mid-elevations, and cottonwoods line the creek bottoms in butter yellow.
This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made
