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 Sierra National Forest Fresno County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Madera County, to the west, is 6 days ahead. Mariposa County, to the northwest, is 8 days behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 2,228 to 11,109 feet. That’s 35 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 19, the low ground holds until about Nov 10, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 4,000 to 6,000 foot band.
10,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1914%
8,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 126%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1424%
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2819%
2,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 1013%
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.
See it now PhenoCam Network, Upper Big Creek camera, 26 km away, captured Sep 25.Plan this trip
If you can only come on certain days
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Friday 23 October to Saturday 24 October
You’ll find it leaves down up high, starting to turn lower down.
Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 19; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 10. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
10,000–12,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 19
8,000–10,000 ftLeaves downpeak Oct 1
6,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 14
4,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 28
2,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Nov 10
Where to drive
US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 30 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 35 miles · Bishop Creek Road (Route 168), about 35 miles
What turns
California black oak, blue oak, Fremont cottonwood, white alder, willow
What turns, and when
California black oak23%
blue oak20%
Fremont cottonwood19%
white alder13%
willow13%
valley oak10%
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
