Fall Foliage Map 2017: Best Time, Places To View Autumn Leaves

Fall is in full swing meaning that the time for sweaters, apple picking and autumn leaf viewing is here. This year the weather has been playing a key role in whether or not the leaves have changed yet and how vibrant they are.

A few factors can influence whether or not the leaves have changed colors yet and whether they’ve all fallen from the trees. Sunlight, precipitation and temperature all influence when the leaves change and how long they hold on. So before heading out for a drive or a hike through the woods to catch some of the seasons best natural views, you should probably check whether the foliage has peaked or not.

There are a few sites online where you can check the status of the leaves in your area and even see photos from people who have reported how the foliage is doing. Most of these sites rely on crowd sourced information from people traveling in the region and reporting what type of foliage they saw.

Fall Foliage New England

If you’re in the New England area of the country, the best time for you to go leaf viewing depends on what color you’re hoping to see. If you prefer the more yellow colors, later in October and earlier in November will be the best time, but if you’d rather see the vibrant reds you’ll want to go around the middle of October. This also varies by location and by year so it can be hard to exactly pinpoint the best time to head out to view.

The further north, the earlier you’ll want to view, according to Boston.com. But for those in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, later in October and early November should be the peak viewing time.

Fall Foliage Maps

There are several fall foliage mappers online. SmokyMountains.com offers a good one that allows users to use a slider to change the date and see how the foliage changes through the autumn months. This tool doesn’t rely on reported data from users so it’s merely a prediction map, meaning the actual peak might occur later than it shows, especially this year when conditions have generally been warmer and some areas have gotten above average rainfall.

The Weather Channel also has a map but theirs is based on reports from various regions around the United States on the foliage there. It was last updated on Oct. 14 so some leaf conditions might have changed since. If you’re looking for real time updates this isn’t the foliage map for you.

The map by NewEngland.com is based on reports from users and is updated with those reports as well as photos regularly. The perk of this is that you can get a really solid idea of what the leaves are like right now to the county because reports are made using a ZIP code. There are also photos so users can get a good visual of the leaf conditions. While the site is called New England Today, the map has reports and contributions from across the entire country.