Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
1 report came in from Lassen County this week, 1 of them patchy color. Our date held. See the county on the map.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.
Around Lassen National Forest Lassen County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 5 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is still green. Tehama County, to the west, is 9 days behind. Shasta County, to the northwest, is 5 days behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 2,551 to 6,690 feet. That’s 13 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 9, 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 5,000 foot band.
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 920%
5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1438%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2117%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2815%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 266%
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.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Monday 19 October to Tuesday 20 October
You’ll find it just past peak up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 9; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 28. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 9
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 14
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 21
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 28
What turns
willow, black cottonwood, California black oak, blue oak, Fremont cottonwood
What turns, and when
willow30%
black cottonwood24%
California black oak10%
blue oak10%
Fremont cottonwood9%
bigleaf maple5%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, 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
