Satellite Comparison

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During the time Inyo National Forest was closed, Lyle Gordon was looking at Sentinel Satellite imagery. A golden patch of color caught his eye near Tres Plumas Meadow at 10,000′ in the White Mountains (roughly 37.561, -118.156), near the Cottonwood Basin.

So, he looked at the same location two weeks earlier and, Voilà!, the same foliage was green.

Lyle, or should we say the Sentinel Satellite, scores a First Report for Tres Plumas Meadow and for the White Mountains, plus satellite imagery is a first for CaliforniaFallColor.com.

He guessed the foliage was most likely Quaking aspen or willow. He also found smaller groves at McAfee Creek to the north (37.6049, -118.1940) and to the south along Crooked Creek  (37.4954, -118.1433).

Lyle reports, “There are some visible groves in the Sierra but they are narrow (along creeks) and harder to see. Further afield in the Monitor Range near Table Mountain there is another large grove around 10,000′ that shows nice color from space.”

Lyle’s email was one that got lost with the email glitch in late September, but which resurfaced a couple of days ago.

In keeping with the newly created U.S. Space Force, CaliforniaFallColor.com commissions Lyle Gordon as the first “Space Cadet” of the California Fall Color Space Force. 

This title will likewise be granted to any other person who uses satellite imagery to find fall color in California. Sorry, no Flash Gordon decoder ring comes with the title.