Im not posting to ask, but to make a very brief report. Im over there now and have been for a few days. Color was generally quite good when I arrived still good up high (though some trees were looking a it thin), very good a bit lower, green and just beginning to turn below that, and still a week or so to wait for some of the bit, low elevation trees in canyons.
But
changing weather conditions have made it extremely windy. As in blow your stuff away if it isnt tied down windy. And the forecast is for the wind to continue and build today (Thursday) and Friday before a shift in conditions (including some possibly precipitation up north) over the weekend.
Needless to say but Ill say it anyway the wind has brought down a lot of the most colorful leaves. They are not all gone, not by a long shot, but I suspect that the after-effects of this wind event will be felt this weekend, and then next week as new trees transition things will likely pick up again a bit.
(Typically there is still plenty of good color in the second full week of October, and if you poke around a bit at lower elevations and in sheltered areas with larger trees you can usually find good color for another week.
Over the years I have figured out a few things about the aspen color transition in the Sierra:
1. Despite all of the speculation to the contrary, the underlying transition generally happens on about the same timeline every year. (Severe drought can change things.)
2. Many of the variations are related to each year's immediate weather conditions. For example, If the current wind event had not happened, there would be great color right now in places that just lost a lot of leaves. (I once arrived at a location before dawn where there were tons of prime leaves only to have a snow squall blow in. A half hour later half of the colorful leaves had been blown down!)
3. Because of north/south and high/low variations (among others), if the color in the eastern Sierra isn't good in one place, there's likely a different place where it is good. Windy? Try canyons. Leaves fallen up high? Try lower elevations. Not yet good farther south? Try further north.
4. When the color isn't great, there's almost always something else worth photographing in the autumn Sierra: leaves on the ground, creeks, bare trees, peaks at sunrise and sunset, rock formations, forests, autumn-golden meadows, and more. :-)
The weather this coming week is supposed to be interesting.
There is now a winter storm watch for a large part of the Sierra in the Monday through Wednesday time frame.Thats not unprecedented, but it is also atypical for such a strong winter storm to come quite this early. More typical is a few fronts that drop a few inches of snow on the peaks, but this one includes forecasts of over a foot of snow in some areas.If it happens, it could actually mean an earlier than usual closure of the summer-only passes: Sonora, Tioga, Ebbetts, Monitor.
Obviously, this could have some, uh, chilling effects on aspen photography this coming week.
