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Fantastic fall foliage ... and where to find it
National
Fantastic fall foliage… and where to find it
By Lauren Tierney and Joe Fox
Oct. 9, 2019
This is starting out as a complicated season for leaf peepers.
As the East Coast sweated through record October heat, parts of the Rockies were buried under wildly early snow. Late heat and early cold can stifle some of the most photo-worthy foliage, but soon enough, large swaths of the country will be engulfed in the brilliant yellows, oranges and reds that herald an approaching winter. “Leaf peepers” and “color spotters” will swarm, cameras in hand, in search of peak fall glory.
Forested areas in the United States host a variety of tree species. The evergreens shed leaves gradually, as promised in their name. The leaves of deciduous varieties change from green to yellow, orange or red before letting go entirely. Using USDA forest species data, we mapped the thickets of fall colors you may encounter in the densely wooded parts of the country.
{snip}
“There are pockets of beautiful color all over the West,” says John Poimiroo, who runs a fall color blog focused primarily on spotting colors in California, “but there aren’t a lot of people there.” So the majesty can go unseen in some places.
To find vivid color shows, Poimiroo recommends looking in high-elevation areas in the Sierra Nevada and near Mount Shasta in Northern California, where pockets of deciduous trees thrive. Along Interstate 5 between the towns of Black Butte and Mount Shasta, oak trees with orange leaves and yellow aspen dot the outskirts of the two towns.
{snip}
Joe Fox joined The Washington Post as a graphics reporter in 2018. He previously worked at the Los Angeles Times as a graphics and data journalist.
Lauren Tierney is a Graphics Reporter and cartographer at The Washington Post. Before joining the Post in 2017, she was a Graphics Editor at National Geographic Magazine.
Brittany Renee Mayes contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly displayed Missoula’s location.
About this story
Forest type data from National Forest Type Dataset. Tree color information from USDA Fact Sheets, Fire Effects Information System, University of Florida Southern Trees Fact Sheets, University of Connecticut Plant Database, Forest Service Climate Change Atlas and California Native Plant Society. Tree color map hillshade by Richard Edes Harrison via shadedreliefarchive.com.
MODIS composite imagery animation of eastern United States fall by Tim Wallace and Krishna Karra of Descartes Labs.
Descartes Labs curated and provided imagery for local sites from ESA Sentinel and Landsat satellites. 2018 Sentinel 2 imagery of Anchorage, Alaska, Bosque Peak, New Mexico, Mt. Shasta, California, St. Johnsbury, Vermont and Door County, Wisconsin. 2017 Sentinel 2 imagery of Provo, Utah. 2001 Landsat 7 imagery of Magazine Mountain, Arkansas.
Fantastic fall foliage… and where to find it
By Lauren Tierney and Joe Fox
Oct. 9, 2019
This is starting out as a complicated season for leaf peepers.
As the East Coast sweated through record October heat, parts of the Rockies were buried under wildly early snow. Late heat and early cold can stifle some of the most photo-worthy foliage, but soon enough, large swaths of the country will be engulfed in the brilliant yellows, oranges and reds that herald an approaching winter. “Leaf peepers” and “color spotters” will swarm, cameras in hand, in search of peak fall glory.
Forested areas in the United States host a variety of tree species. The evergreens shed leaves gradually, as promised in their name. The leaves of deciduous varieties change from green to yellow, orange or red before letting go entirely. Using USDA forest species data, we mapped the thickets of fall colors you may encounter in the densely wooded parts of the country.
{snip}
“There are pockets of beautiful color all over the West,” says John Poimiroo, who runs a fall color blog focused primarily on spotting colors in California, “but there aren’t a lot of people there.” So the majesty can go unseen in some places.
To find vivid color shows, Poimiroo recommends looking in high-elevation areas in the Sierra Nevada and near Mount Shasta in Northern California, where pockets of deciduous trees thrive. Along Interstate 5 between the towns of Black Butte and Mount Shasta, oak trees with orange leaves and yellow aspen dot the outskirts of the two towns.
{snip}
Joe Fox joined The Washington Post as a graphics reporter in 2018. He previously worked at the Los Angeles Times as a graphics and data journalist.
Lauren Tierney is a Graphics Reporter and cartographer at The Washington Post. Before joining the Post in 2017, she was a Graphics Editor at National Geographic Magazine.
Brittany Renee Mayes contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly displayed Missoula’s location.
About this story
Forest type data from National Forest Type Dataset. Tree color information from USDA Fact Sheets, Fire Effects Information System, University of Florida Southern Trees Fact Sheets, University of Connecticut Plant Database, Forest Service Climate Change Atlas and California Native Plant Society. Tree color map hillshade by Richard Edes Harrison via shadedreliefarchive.com.
MODIS composite imagery animation of eastern United States fall by Tim Wallace and Krishna Karra of Descartes Labs.
Descartes Labs curated and provided imagery for local sites from ESA Sentinel and Landsat satellites. 2018 Sentinel 2 imagery of Anchorage, Alaska, Bosque Peak, New Mexico, Mt. Shasta, California, St. Johnsbury, Vermont and Door County, Wisconsin. 2017 Sentinel 2 imagery of Provo, Utah. 2001 Landsat 7 imagery of Magazine Mountain, Arkansas.
