Foraging & Beachcombing · email alerts for New England, New York and Pennsylvania
Storms turn up sea glass. Be on the beach for the first low tide after one.
Sea glass after storms, the lowest daylight tides for digging, shellfish closures and reopenings, and sap runs, morels and wild berries in their seasons.
We email only when something changes at your place: at most 3 alert emails a day, alerts that come together share one email, and nothing from 9 pm to 6 am. Routine alerts wait for one 6 am morning email. Turn off any alert you don't want. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Beachcombing after storms: big seas easing at the nearest buoy, with the next daylight low tide (sea glass, shells, driftwood)
Daylight minus tides, a day or two ahead
Shellfish: the lowest daylight tides for digging, and closures and reopenings in Maine and Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, the day seasonal areas reopen, and our estimate of which conditionally approved areas (North Shore, Buzzards Bay, Mount Hope Bay) are likely closed after heavy rain under DMF’s own rain rules for 45 areas; not Wellfleet or the Outer Cape, where DMF closes flats by notice (your town’s shellfish constable has those)
Maple sap runs: freezing nights and thawing days (January to April)
In your Sunday email
Morel season by soil warmth, and soaking rains after it starts
Mushroom weather: wet summer months and the first cool week of fall
Wild berries: serviceberry, lowbush blueberry and elderberry bloom and ripening, timed by the season’s warmth
The yearly acorn and beechnut reports, when they come out in the fall (Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont only)
Switch off any you don't want. Every alert comes by email.
Everything$79 a year
Every pack, for two places (say, your home and a camp or a parent’s house), with a copy of each alert to a second email.
NOAA tide predictions and National Data Buoy Center wave buoys
Maine DMR and RI DEM shellfish closure notices, and Massachusetts DMF’s shellfish area classification
National Weather Service forecasts
Daily temperatures and rain from NOAA’s Regional Climate Centers, timed against published morel, mushroom and berry studies
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s oak mast survey, New Hampshire Fish and Game’s mast assessment and Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s acorn and beechnut report
Public data, checked around the clock, matched to your place. When a source changes, you get one plain email that says what changed and what it means for you.
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Sample alerts from real days
Backroad AlmanacTue, Feb 24, 2026 · 6:00 am
Storm seas easing off Rockport: offshore waves peaked near 23 ft, low tide Tue 10:22 am
Offshore waves: 23 ft at the peak, 12 ft now (buoy 44013). Next daylight low tide: Tue 10:22 am.
After a big blow, the low tide is the time to look along the wrack line for sea glass, shells and driftwood.
Per NOAA National Data Buoy Center buoy 44013 and NOAA tide predictions, as of Tue Feb 24, 2:10 am.
Sample alert: a real storm on Cape Ann, MA, rebuilt from NOAA buoy and tide records.
Four more sample alerts from this pack
Backroad AlmanacThu, Oct 29, 2026 · 7:25 am
Seasonal shellfish closure ends Nov 1: Pamet Harbor (CCB7.1), Wellfleet Boat Ramp (CCB13.3), Duck Creek (CCB13.2)
From DMF’s classification: these areas close each year for the season shown. Conditionally approved areas also close after heavy rain, and towns set their own permits, days and limits: check with the town shellfish constable before digging.
“Seasonally closed May 1 through October 31”
Per Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries shellfish classification, as of Thu Oct 29, 7:20 am.
Sample alert: a real reopening in Wellfleet and Truro, MA, from Massachusetts DMF’s shellfish classification.
Backroad AlmanacTue, Oct 13, 2026 · 9:45 am
Shellfish areas likely closed after rain: Annisquam River, Farm Creek, Fox Creek and 16 more
About 1.21 in to 1.48 in of rain fell near these areas on Monday (NOAA’s Northeast Regional Climate Center rain analysis). Under the rain rules in DMF’s classification of each area, they close after that much rain, likely through about Oct 20. Our estimate, not DMF’s notice: check with the town shellfish constable before you dig.
Per Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries shellfish classification, with NOAA Northeast Regional Climate Center rainfall, as of Tue Oct 13, 9:40 am.
Sample alert: a real storm on Cape Ann and the North Shore, from DMF’s rain rules and NOAA’s rain records.
Backroad AlmanacFri, May 15, 2026 · 6:00 am
Daylight minus tides Sun–Fri at Rockport: lowest −1.5 ft, Mon 6:52 am
The hour either side of a minus tide uncovers rock, bar and wrack line that are usually underwater.
Per NOAA Tides & Currents predictions.
Sample alert: real tides at Rockport, MA, from NOAA predictions.
Backroad AlmanacSun, Mar 1, 2026 · 6:00 am
Sap run likely Wed–Thu: nights 18–19°F, days 47–48°F
Freezing nights followed by days above 40°F are what get sap moving.
Per National Weather Service Burlington, VT forecast.
Sample alert: a real March week near Montpelier, VT, rebuilt from the airport’s weather records.
How many emails? A real year
A Foraging & Beachcombing reader at a home in Gloucester, MA would have gotten 75 emails from January through October 2026, about 1½ a week: 73 from Foraging & Beachcombing (mostly beachcombing after storms, shellfish tides & open areas and maple sap runs) and 2 with only free alerts (meteor showers & clear skies).
Foraging & Beachcombing alertsFree alerts only
Emails each month, 2026
Month
Emails
Free alerts only
January
12
0
February
14
0
March
11
0
April
9
0
May
7
1
June
2
0
July
4
0
August
4
0
September
7
0
October
5
1
We ran that year's real weather and agency records through the same rules that send our alerts. Where an alert reads a forecast, the weather that actually came stood in for it. The busiest month was February, with 14. You can turn off any alert you don't want.
Common questions
When is the best time to find sea glass?
Right after a big storm, at the first daylight low tide once the seas ease. We watch the nearest NOAA wave buoy and tide station and email you that tide.
What is a minus tide?
A low tide below zero on NOAA’s tide tables (mean lower low water). They come around the new and full moons and uncover rock, bar and wrack line that are usually underwater. We email the daylight ones a day or two ahead.
Are shellfish flats closed after rain?
Many are, for a while after heavy rain. We pass on Maine’s and Rhode Island’s closure notices, and for 45 Massachusetts areas whose state rules close them after rain we send our own estimate, which isn’t the state’s notice. Check with your town before you dig.
When does maple sap run?
When nights freeze (30°F or colder) and days reach 40°F or more, usually between January and April. We email when a run of those days should start within the next three days.
Updated November 2026.
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