Listen to KGO-AM810 at 7:05 a.m. today and on Oct. 2 for live fall color reports. Travel broadcaster John Hamilton will have California Fall Color report blogger John Poimiroo and other color spotters as his guests to report about the fall color season in California.
As reported by the National Geographic Society today, “For the first time since 1991, the full moon will shed light on the beginning of fall — the Northern Hemisphere’s autumnal equinox,” which begins officially at 8:09 p.m. PDT tonight. CLICK HERE to read the full story.
“Curious” posted the following comment on The Mighty Sparrow today in response to something I’d posted previously… “I’m still wondering about “the wet season…warm dry days and cold nights” part. Have the introduced trees and native poison oak in the Bay Area not gotten the memo? Every fall the liquidambars turn every color between yellow and burgundy, the dogwoods turn persimmon, the ashes send down flurries of gold, the pistachios go fire-engine red, many varieties of maple catch fire, all without regard to summer drought and mild nights. This fall was quite mild yet the poison oak (starting before the two early rains) was particularly spectacular in the Peninsula hills. Could it be that the species of plant is the more important variable, so that even without the boost of a rainy summer and cold autumn nights many varieties of plants can have deep, intense color? Or is it that the wet season in question can happen season-before-last and the cold in “cold nights” just needs to be equivalent to a typical Bay Area night in early October? (PS Love your web site!)”
I responded, “You’re right, foliage turns by species. That is, poison oak tend to change collectively and that can be on a different schedule than liquidambars or other deciduous foliage. The triggering mechanism, however, is a shortening of the days which results in lower chlorophyll production, thereby revealing the color. Rain in advance of autumn serves the purpose of making color last longer. In a drought, the leaves tend to dry up faster which shortens the time they show color. As for temperature, the ideal conditions are warm days and cold nights. That combination serves to intensify the color. Rainy nights are not good for the fall color as cloud cover retains heat. Clear, cold night skies and warm days are best.
In our reports, you’ll see that some species turn earlier than others, but also note that color has been descending since mid September at a rate of about 1,000′ per week. Right now, the color has dropped in elevation to be appearing all over Northern California. I found so little seasonal color in Southern California this past weekend, that it’s hard to say whether there’s just none to be seen or it hasn’t gotten to that latitude and elevation, as yet.”
We love hearing from our readers (up to a thousand visit californiafallcolor each day). To add your observations, email us or click on “Leave A Comment” at the bottom of any of our blogs.
Years ago when I worked in Yosemite Valley, you wouldn’t find me at my desk following a big storm. As, that’s when the best photographs can be taken… when most people are snug and warm inside. Ansel Adams exemplified that philosophy with his magnificent “Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley.” Yesterday, I was supposed to be photographing Redding and the Shasta Cascade, but we scrubbed the shoot because of the storm… thinking that we wouldn’t get the best photos. It turned out the day was beautiful.
So, today I turn to Greg Boyer’s superb blog, One Horse Studio, to see his remarkable photographs of the Eastern Sierra that he shot yesterday (of course) following a big storm. The photos are wonderful, but the real story is in how he got them… braving a blustery day in which he was blown off his feet to get a great shot near Convict Lake. Best of all, Greg writes (confirming what Tim Fesko reported earlier today) that good color is still to be seen in the Eastern Sierra. From what Greg writes, I devise the following report:
30-50% June Lake Loop. Half green, half yellow and developing nicely. If the aspen hold out long enough for the warmer days predicted next week, should be peaking within a week.
50-75% Lee Vining Canyon. Near peak, though the wind knocked a lot of leaves from the trees. Look for the aspen to peak this weekend.
Anyone who loves the outdoors will enjoy visiting The Mighty Sparrow, a blog about the California outdoors. For their report on California Fall Color, CLICK HERE.
Columnist Rick Kushman wrote today in The Sacramento Bee, “Then you see it. Boom. An explosion of color. Vivid, almost radiant, a thousand-foot, Day-Glo waterfall of orange, yellow, gold and bright green. A creek flows between cliffs, and aspens grow along the water. Surely, someone spilled enormous paint cans on those trees, dyeing the mountainside in kinetic, luminescent color.” What was he writing about? Bishop Creek in the Eastern Sierra. To read the entire story, CLICK HERE.
EASTERN SIERRA
75-100% – Bishop Creek — Bishop Creek is peaking now. CLICK HERE to see what happened this weekend.