California Fall Color

Dude, autumn happens here, too.

Frank McDonough of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden sends these shots taken today.

With a week of autumn still remaining, the color is still intense at the LA County Arboretum, which remains a refuge of serenity separated from the  pell-mell pace of holiday shopping.  To sense the inward peace of this season, head to Arcadia.

75 – 100% – LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - Flame colors continue to burn as winter approaches.

Location: Arcadia, Calif
Temperature: 55.4 °F
Humidity: 54%
Dew point: 39.2 °F
Wind speed: 7km/hr
Wind direction: 200°
Cloud cover: scattered clouds

75 – 100% – Lake Hemet, San Jacinto Mountains - A glorious day for a picnic is Veteran’s Day, and on that day, Todd Stepien of Lake Hemet Campgrounds sends these photos of gold dressing the shoreline of the lake, near Mountain Center in the San Jacinto Mountains.  There’s still time to head out today, camp tonight and spend the Monday holiday in the mountains, surrounded by “old glory.”

Location: Palm Springs, Calif.
Temperature: 60.8 °F
Humidity: 15%
Dew point: 14 °F
Wind speed: n/a
Wind direction: n/a
Cloud cover: n/a

Warm days (80s) have returned to California this week, though rain and snow are predicted for the coming weekend.  A return to warmer weather is actually just fine for sustained fall color, since warm days and cool nights intensify color.

Barbara Steinberg sends this lovely photograph of the Hakone Gardens in San Jose and Scott, a hiker who blogs at http://one-thousand-miles.blogspot.com/ reports orange and gold appearing among the black oak along the Observatory trail on Mt. Palomar in Southern California.

We were in West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Pasadena this past weekend and saw very little color change among the few deciduous trees evident, there.  Pleasant temperatures in the 70s and 80s will provide a much appreciated Indian Summer across California this week.

Location: Mt. Palomar, Calif.
Temperature: 87.8 °F
Humidity: 9%
Dew point: 24.8 °F
Wind speed: 6km/hr
Wind direction: 80°
Cloud cover: n/a

The LA County Arboretum with its spectacular variety of trees has begun reporting precocious color among the Chinese pistache, California wild grapes, and Nyssa sylvatica.  Color spotter (and resident botanist) Frank McDonough reports, “ Things are starting to look up here at the L.A. County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.”  We look forward to Frank’s photos and reports.  If you’re from Southern California and would like to contribute, click on “Comment” below or post on our Facebook page (click “f” at upper left).

Location: Arcadia, Calif.
Temperature: 71.6 °F
Humidity: 49%
Dew point: 51.8 °F
Wind speed: n/a
Wind direction: n/a
Cloud cover: n/a

Southern California

Heather Heinz writes that she was, “raised on the East Coast and ever since moving to Southern California this site (California Fall Color) has helped me feel more at home every fall.   After reading that the aspens in San Gorgonio’s Aspen Grove were possibly turning, I called into the U.S. Forest Service San Gorgonio Ranger Station, whose staff confirmed the report.

“So, I drove up the mountain yesterday afternoon and the aspens were in full color! We had a pretty strong storm in the middle of last week that blew off some of the lower leaves so I’d guess the aspens won’t last long. GO NOW!.”

75 – 100% – Aspen Grove, San Gorgonio Wilderness - Full Peak – Go Now!

15 – 30% – Highway 38 - Driving toward San Gorgonio, the oaks are beginning to turn yellow.

Color spotter Diana Wroblewski reports she was up in Big Bear on Saturday and saw, “lots of gold and red in the Village and along Moonridge Rd.   Golds on the Pine Knot Trail. Very pretty!”

30 – 50% – Big Bear - Explore the trails around Big Bear for spots of color.

 

Location: Big Bear, CA
Temperature: 57.2 °F
Humidity: 35%
Dew point: 30.2 °F
Wind speed: 10km/hr
Wind direction: 50°
Cloud cover: n/a

Today, we heard from Jim Carlton of The Weather Channel (the website to visit for the most complete and accurate reports on fall color across the USA), that he was getting word that color was appearing in San Bernardino National Forest (Southern California).

So far, we’ve not yet received many reports from Southern California.  So, we called local color spotters Todd Stepien of Lake Hemet Campgrounds, Dan McKernan of Big Bear and Steve Caloca of Lake Arrowhead and the San Bernardino National Forest for status reports.

They’re now out looking for fall color.  We encourage other Southern California readers to head to the mountains this weekend to report on what’s to be seen.  Here’s the latest.

15 – 30% – San Jacinto Mountains – Todd Stepien says there’s very little color yet showing among the black oak (orange) in the San Jacinto Mountains from Idyllwild south to Mountain Center and Lake Hemet.  The campgrounds at Lake Hemet are an affordable location to base a camping-based leaf peeping expedition to the San Jacintos, but wait a week or two for the color to develop.

30 – 50% – Big Bear - Dan McKernan says the Town of Big Bear is beginning to glow with yellow aspen and red eastern sugar maples.

30 – 50% – Lake Arrowhead - Steve Caloca reports a brightening of fall color in and about Lake Arrowhead.

One of the most spectacular locations for fall color in Southern California is Aspen Grove near the San Gorgonio Wilderness in San Bernardino National Forest.  We’ve received second-hand reports (not anyone who actually was there) that this grove is approaching peak.  That would be early, since it normally peaks later in October… so we ask Southern California spotters to send reports and photos to us.  Our email address is noted on the About page on this site.

Location: Big Bear, Calif.
Temperature: 42.8 °F
Humidity: 65%
Dew point: n/a
Wind speed: 6km/hr
Wind direction: 230°
Cloud cover: scattered clouds

Landing at Long Beach yesterday, our JetBlue flight crossed an urban landscape that was speckled with bright orange and gold exotic trees.  The top branches of the tallest trees were stripped of leaves, though all below was full of color and glory.

75 – 100% – Long Beach, Southern LA County - Non-native landscaped trees are fully colored with some neighborhoods showing lots of autumn color.

This week, Zack Behrens of KCET-TV posts gorgeous shots of orangy color in Los Angeles and debunks the myth that LA has no seasons.  CLICK HERE to see his report and proof positive that Los Angeles is literally aflame with color in autumn.  Though, this week’s big winds are stripping the color.  CLICK HERE to see the latest from SoCal Wanderer.  So, the most color Southern Californians are left to watch are sunsets along the coast, like these two lovers enjoyed at Redondo Beach.

Past Peak – Southern California - Santa Ana winds have settled in and sucked most of the leaves from the trees.  So long autumn!

30 – 75% – Los Angeles Co. Arboretum & Botanic Garden - Frank McDonough reports a broad range of color change can be seen at the LA County Arboretum.  The Pin Oak (quercus palustris) seen at left is native to the eastern United States, though is one of the colorful species to be seen at the arboretum.

0 – 15% – Los Angeles County Arboretum - Frank McDonough of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden reports fall color has been late to appear this year (a phenomenon seen across the country), but is now showing at 15%.  A grape vine is cascading a waterfall of red leaves into Baldwin Lagoon and Horned Maple are turning color in time for Halloween.  To see what’s turning color at the Arboretum, CLICK HERE.  Better yet, if you’re in the Southland, plan a fall visit to the Arboretum in coming weeks.