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.
- 4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 288%
- 3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3025%
- 2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 233%
- 1,000–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 524%
- 0–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 77%
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.
That’s 1 day later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Plan this tripIf you can only come on certain days
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Sunday 1 November to Monday 2 November
You’ll find it just past peak up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 4,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 28; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 5. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
- 4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 28
- 3,000–4,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 30
- 2,000–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 2
- 1,000–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 5
- What turns
- California black oak, blue oak, valley oak, Fremont cottonwood
What turns, and when
- California black oak39%
- blue oak38%
- valley oak19%
- Fremont cottonwood4%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, Bigleaf Maple, White Alder.
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