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 Mendocino National Forest Lake County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Tehama County, to the northeast, is 5 days behind. Mendocino County, to the southwest, is on the same day.By elevation The forest runs from about 1,458 to 5,912 feet. That’s 7 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 12, the low ground holds until about Oct 19, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 3,000 to 4,000 foot band.
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 124%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1816%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2423%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3123%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2821%
1,000–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1912%
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.
Sunday 1 November to Monday 2 November
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
5,000–6,000 ftFadingpeak Oct 18
4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 24
3,000–4,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 31
2,000–3,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 28
1,000–2,000 ftFadingpeak Oct 19
What turns
California black oak, blue oak, valley oak, Fremont cottonwood, white alder
What turns, and when
California black oak36%
blue oak34%
valley oak17%
Fremont cottonwood6%
white alder4%
willow4%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, 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
