Red, yellow, orange all over: States use volunteer ‘leaf peepers’ to report, predict foliage

How do you predict fall foliage? With lots of eyes

WOODSTOCK, Vt. — It’s fall foliage season, and people who want to see it are getting a hand from states that put out reports with real-time tracking of where the colors are changing.

Fall foliage is a multimillion-dollar business for New England states that cash in on the rush of camera-toting visitors.

Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Vermont are among the states that put out foliage forecasts using observations from volunteer spotters. The “leaf peepers” deliver reports about what roads to drive, which kinds of trees are turning and when the peak periods of color will be.

Those, in turn, are posted on websites in words, photos and colored maps.