Natural History Wanderings

After this weekend’s storms the fall color status should be changing.   Not only is there the loss of leaves, there are a lot less fall color reports as fewer people were out this past weekend.

Updated 10/26/10

Fall Color in California has detailed reports from Kahlee Brighton and Inge Fernau that describe some of the effects of the storm on the Eastern Sierra, what they have seen in a number of popular areas and that many trees had lost their leaves.

In his posting Getting Philosophical John Poimiroo of California Fall Color talks about the impact of the recent story on the Sierra Fall Foliage.  He predicts there will still be good fall color below 7000 feet elevation and gives his predictions for fall color increasing in Shasta Cascade, Lassen Park, Yosemite Valley and Napa Vineyards.  Read his post for more details.

Best bets for fall color is the Sacramento Bee’s  predictions for this coming week.  They are still recommending Conway Summit, Hope Valley, and Lundy Canyon.

The Plumas County Awesome Autumn report: The storm didn’t bring much wind, and most of the trees haven’t turned completely yet, so this will definitely be a good week to visit, aside from the fact the weekend may be wet again. We’ll keep watching the weather. And it looks like the days following the weekend will be clear. With this unusual progression of color this year, we predict there will be color well into the first part of November.”

If you are going to look for color this week, I strongly recommend calling the local area before heading out and see if you can get a first hand post-storm report.