National Forest·California, Nevada·3,893,242 acres
Toiyabe National Forest
Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET
Peak color13 OctAim for 12 to 15 Oct
In the forest today, Sep 25Starting to turn
Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Wind to 25 mph Monday. Color may come down before it turns.
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 Toiyabe National Forest Nye County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 12 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is starting to turn. Douglas County, to the northwest, is 14 days behind. Mono County, to the west, is on the same day.By elevation The forest runs from about 3,564 to 8,904 feet. That’s 38 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 3015%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1251%
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2328%
2,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 76%
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.
That’s 1 day later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Monday 12 October to Tuesday 13 October
You’ll find it fading up high, starting to turn lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 30; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 23. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 30
6,000–8,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 12
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 23
Where to drive
US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 87 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 91 miles · Bishop Creek Road (Route 168), about 100 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, Fremont cottonwood, willow, white alder, narrowleaf cottonwood
What turns, and when
quaking aspen44%
Fremont cottonwood15%
willow14%
white alder9%
narrowleaf cottonwood8%
Gambel oak6%
Also named across Nevada, outside what the canopy read measures here: Water Birch, Rocky Mountain Maple, Curlleaf Mountain Mahogany.
Aspens turn gold in isolated mountain ranges rising from the Great Basin, creating dramatic contrasts of bright yellow groves against sagebrush gray and limestone white.
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
