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 Stanislaus National Forest Tuolumne County holds most of the forest and is still green today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 28 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is starting to turn. Calaveras County, to the west, is 11 days ahead. Mariposa County, to the south, is 1 day behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 2,422 to 9,151 feet. That’s 22 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 30, the low ground holds until about Nov 7, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 8,000 foot band.
8,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3022%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1129%
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2522%
2,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 725%
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.
Friday 9 October to Saturday 10 October
You’ll find it just past peak up high, still green lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 30; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 7. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 30
6,000–8,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 11
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 25
2,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 7
Where to drive
Sonora Pass (Route 108), about 22 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 55 miles · US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 75 miles
What turns
California black oak, blue oak, valley oak, Fremont cottonwood, white alder
What turns, and when
California black oak30%
blue oak28%
valley oak14%
Fremont cottonwood12%
white alder8%
willow8%
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
