We’ve heard so many good things and seen pictures of New England in the Fall that it seems nothing compares with it for Fall colours. However, we are really tempted to return to California where we had such a marvellous time in 1999 with our then teenage kids. There are so many things we either missed or didn’t get enough of! What is California like in the Fall? Is there any comparison to New England at that time of year? Indeed, when is the Fall in California!

hot!

What part of California are you interested in? You might see a bit of fall color up in the northern part of the state, outside of and inland from San Francisco. However, we just do not have the same weather or flora, so you won't have as much or as vivid a color display.

Southern California? It generally is still warm and dry, and you won't find the Colors of Autumn at all. Desert, you know.

In the southern part of the state, autumn generally means a bit of a higher chance of "rain" (we call a steady drizzle a "downpour"), and cooler evenings (and strong scents of night blooming jasmine and angel's trumpets). It only really gets cool and steadily wetter in winter.

Fall comes earlier to the eastern Sierra than it does to most of CA. Both Inyo and Mono counties would be a good choice. Here's a link to pics from the eastern sierra just to give you an idea and the slide show says where the pictures were taken. I would plan seeing colors mid to late Sept:


http://www.pbase.com/billphoto/fall_color

Fall is beautiful along the coast in Northern California. No colors, but usually warm, clear gorgeous summer like weather. It is actually some of the best weather of the year. We tend to get fog the summer months. We do get some color in Nov and Dec along the rivers.

A really spectacular area for Fall in California is on Highway 49 North beyond Nevada City. I've read that it rivals New England, primarily because saplings were brought here by the 49'ers (miners). The drive from Nevada City through Downieville to Sierra City, etc is very colorful late in the Fall season.

That being said, my Aussie relatives loved the colors of Fall in October in the Napa Valley in 2007.

As a native Southern Californian, my vote for the best place in California to be in the fall is the Paso Robles wine region. The place is beautiful with fairly mild temperatures, and still close enough to Cambria for day trips to the beach and Hearst Castle. (And of course there are plenty of wineries to visit!) September to mid-November tends to be brutal in the south with temperatures that can easily reach the upper 90s. Southern California really has just two seasons: hot and mild. We get grumpy here when temps drop below 65 for more than two weeks.

MrsTooth, nailed it for So Cal.
I'm a native Californian. I schedule my vacations so I can get out of San Diego in the fall. It's the season for hot, dry Santa Ana winds.
No Cal is nice in the fall.

Beautiful photos, Suzie. I thought of the Eastern Sierra as I was reading selsel's OP.

I'd add Yosemite Valley and the Hetch Hetchy area, probably mid- to late-October.

I lived in Sacramento for 25 years. My feeling was that there were only two seasons there--the hot season and the wet season.

As soon as I retired, I hot-footed it out for a four-season location...and boy! did we have a season this winter. 89 inches of snow.

Did someone suggest going to Sacto for fall color? I must have missed that post. Did it get deleted?