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 Plumas National Forest Plumas County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Butte County, to the west, is 1 day behind. Sierra County, to the southeast, is 4 days ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 2,660 to 6,774 feet. That’s 19 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 11, the low ground holds until about Oct 24, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1121%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1733%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2425%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2911%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 247%
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.
Saturday 17 October to Sunday 18 October
You’ll find it just past peak up high, starting to turn lower down.
Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 11; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 29. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 11
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 17
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 24
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 29
Where to drive
Sonora Pass (Route 108), about 127 miles
What turns
Fremont cottonwood, California black oak, white alder, willow, blue oak
What turns, and when
Fremont cottonwood22%
California black oak20%
white alder14%
willow14%
blue oak13%
bigleaf maple7%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen.
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
