Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Wind to 36 mph Friday. Color may come down before it turns.
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 Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Alpine County holds most of the wilderness and is starting to turn today. Tuolumne County, to the south, is 31 days behind. Mono County, to the southeast, is 6 days ahead.By elevation The wilderness runs from about 6,322 to 9,997 feet. That’s 32 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 19, the low ground holds until about Oct 14, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 195%
9,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2519%
8,000–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 134%
7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 725%
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1415%
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.
Sunday 11 October to Monday 12 October
You’ll find it fading up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 9,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 25; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 14. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 25
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 1
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 7
6,000–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 14
Where to drive
Sonora Pass (Route 108), about 11 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 59 miles · US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 79 miles
What turns
Fremont cottonwood, quaking aspen, white alder, willow, California black oak
What turns, and when
Fremont cottonwood25%
quaking aspen25%
white alder17%
willow17%
California black oak9%
bigleaf maple8%
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
