California: Fall color lingers in SoCal but flees higher elevations

For leaf peepers in the northern part of California, the party is almost over, but Southern California remains a bright spot for those seeking fall color.

That’s the assessment of California Fall Color, a website that follows the changing of the leaves up and down the state. Its catchphrase? “Dude, autumn happens here, too.”

Or maybe that’s “happened,” at least in the northern reaches of the state and at higher elevations. High winds will rip the last of the leaves from the trees in the Shasta Cascade and the Sierra foothills; by Thursday evening, a wind alert for the Sierra promised gusts of 60 mph, which spells doom for leaves. Color also has slipped from trees in the Central Valley.

In San Francisco, color is at full peak or nearly past, the website says, and by next weekend, the color you will find will be in those places the wind can’t touch.

Southern California is reaching its peak, the website says: “Elevations between sea level and 3,000 feet in the foothills of the San Jacintos have still been developing with fresh displays of golden cottonwood and orange black oak, though those groves are far and few between.”
Idyllwild is past its peak, but Hemet and Lake Hemet have color, it notes. It also suggests checking out the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia, which has been a color spot, although the rains Thursday may have hastened the leaf drop.

Is this the end of the color? No, says John Poimiroo of the website. “What’s wonderful about L.A. County is that the color continues into December. I’ve even gotten a January report, occasionally.”

Keep a sharp eye out in your neighborhood, where a Japanese maple indeed suggests that dude, autumn happens here too.