Photo: Leena Robinson (Shutterstock)
So you had to cancel your summer vacation for the second year in a row because of the pandemic. For a while this year looked really good – what with the vaccine rollout and the falling cases and everything else – but the Delta variant had other plans (to ruin ours).
Perhaps you are now considering a fall road trip to admire the colorful foliage and stay in a cozy, secluded vacation rental. Well, if that’s the case, you’re not alone and someone else might be keeping an eye on that booth you favored on VRBO months ago.
But when fall foliage is an integral part of your trip, it can be hard to know when a particular area is at its vibrant peak. Fortunately there is one Interactive map uses the data to predict when different parts of the country will be most colorful. Here’s what you should know.
How to use the autumn foliage forecast map 2021
Once again, this interactive map comes courtesy David Angotti, a statistician and founder of the website SmokyMountains.com. It uses historical temperature and rainfall data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as this year’s forecast temperatures and rainfall, and historical leaf tip trends to predict when fall foliage will reach its most colorful peak anywhere in the continental United States in 2021.
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The map is intuitive: use the slider at the bottom of the map to select a date and see where the foliage peaks that week. For example, if you select September 6th, you will see the leaf forecast for the week of September 6th to 12th.
Of course, like any weather-based forecast, the blade tip predictions will never be entirely accurate, but Angotti and his team have been doing this for nearly a decade, so they’ve been able to refine their algorithm over the years.
As you can imagine, Angotti says the vast majority of people who use the map do so to plan a fall getaway or to check when the leaves are peaking near their home – but some people are special got creative.
“Some of our favorites [uses of the map] These include a bride in the northeast changing her outdoor wedding date, a director planning a film shoot on location based on our predictions, and even an elementary school teacher planning a trip to a nearby state forest, ”he tells Lifehacker via E-mail.
