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 Ansel Adams Wilderness Madera County holds most of the wilderness and is still green today. Fresno County, to the south, is 6 days behind. Mono County, to the northeast, is 24 days ahead.By elevation The wilderness runs from about 5,506 to 11,230 feet. That’s 38 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 18, the low ground holds until about Oct 26, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 4,000 to 6,000 foot band.
10,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1822%
8,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3040%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1331%
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 268%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the wilderness’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the wilderness stands in it.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Thursday 22 October to Friday 23 October
You’ll find it leaves down up high, just past peak lower down.
Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 18; down at 8,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 13. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
10,000–12,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 18
8,000–10,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 30
6,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 13
Where to drive
June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 14 miles · US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 21 miles · Bishop Creek Road (Route 168), about 42 miles
What turns
Fremont cottonwood, quaking aspen, white alder, willow, California black oak
What turns, and when
Fremont cottonwood25%
quaking aspen18%
white alder17%
willow17%
California black oak10%
blue oak6%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Bigleaf Maple.
Eastern Sierra aspens turn brilliant gold against granite walls, black oaks in Yosemite Valley go bronze and russet, and cottonwoods line the desert creeks in pale 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
