Questions and answers
The alerts
My phone already gets weather warnings. Why pay?
Your phone passes on the weather service's warnings for wherever your phone is. We watch your place, even when you're not there, and send what weather apps don't: a below-zero night at a house nobody is at, how heavy the snow on your roof has gotten after several storms, hail reported near your house, which nights to change the horses' blankets, the week trout are stocked near you, and a season opener a week ahead. Most of it comes from sources weather apps don't read: state stocking reports, river gauges, NOAA's snow analysis and extension guides. If it isn't worth $49 to you, reply to any of our emails within 30 days for a full refund.
What do I get?
Email alerts for the pack you choose, matched to your place, plus The Weekly Almanac every Sunday morning and the free alerts. Each pack's page shows real sample alerts and lists every alert in that pack. You can switch off any alert you don't want.
How often will you email me?
We email only when something changes at your place, so some weeks are quiet. Each inbox gets at most 3 alert emails a day (you can lower that), alerts that come together share one email, and nothing comes between 9 pm and 6 am: routine alerts, and anything that came overnight, wait for one 6 am morning email. Then there's The Weekly Almanac on Sunday morning. That holds with Everything too.
What a pack sends depends on the season:
- Home, Land & Garden: deep-cold nights and storm warnings in winter, roof snow only in a snowy stretch (0 to 4 times a winter at the places we replayed last winter) and ice-dam weather (0 to 5), frost, lawn and apple-tree timing in spring and fall, hail on summer storm days.
- Farm & Barn: the blanket call on the afternoons it changes (September to May; see the blanket chart), coop calls on the coldest nights (5 to 11 a winter in our replay at seven airports; see how cold is too cold for chickens), hay windows and hot days in summer, and a handful of hive emails from the late-winter stores checks through swarm season to the fall’s last week for syrup.
- Hunting: pheasant weeks, openers, duck weather and the Friday outlook in fall and winter; permit deadlines and sale days in spring and summer.
- Fishing & Boating: mostly March to November (stocking, the boating forecast, tournaments); in winter, lake levels, dam releases and Vermont ice derbies.
- Foraging & Beachcombing: storm low tides and minus tides on the coast, sap runs in late winter, and the rest in your Sunday email.
- Wildlife & Nature: hawk days in fall, seal tides in winter, snow geese January to March, bloom and woodcock in spring, horseshoe crabs in May and June.
What one reader of each pack would have gotten in a real year, January through October 2026 (each pack's page has the month-by-month chart):
| Pack | Place | Emails | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home, Land & Garden | a second home in Stowe, VT | 80 | about 2 a week |
| Farm & Barn for horses | a barn near Cazenovia, NY | 78 | about 2 a week |
| Farm & Barn for chickens | a barn near Cazenovia, NY | 33 | about one a week |
| Farm & Barn for bees | a barn near Cazenovia, NY | 42 | about one a week |
| Hunting | a home in State College, PA | 40 | about one a week |
| Fishing & Boating | a lake camp in Wolfeboro, NH | 40 | about one a week |
| Foraging & Beachcombing | a home in Gloucester, MA | 75 | about 1½ a week |
| Wildlife & Nature | a home in Charlestown, RI | 75 | about 1½ a week |
Why email and not text messages?
Email works on any phone or computer, it can hold a whole forecast or list in one message, and you can keep it, search it and forward it. There is no app to install and nothing to text back.
Do I need an app or a password?
No app, and no password. The alerts come to your inbox. To change your card, see receipts or cancel, go to your account page (the "Manage your plan" link in any of our emails goes there). We email you a link to sign in.
Where does the information come from?
Public sources, checked around the clock:
- National Weather Service forecasts, warnings and storm reports
- NOAA tide predictions, wave buoys and snow analysis
- US Geological Survey river gauges and groundwater wells
- State fish and wildlife agencies: stocking reports, release lists, leftover tags and bird counts
- U.S. Forest Service fire danger ratings, and state forestry, agriculture and shellfish notices
- USDA market reports, and daily temperatures from NOAA's Regional Climate Centers for degree days
- Published timing from university extension services (UMass, Cornell, Penn State and others)
Every alert says where it came from.
Is this an official warning?
No. Backroad Almanac is not a government service, and our alerts are not official warnings. They summarize public information for your place, and sources can be late or wrong, and so can we. Always follow the National Weather Service, your state agencies and local officials. In an emergency, call 911.
Does it work where I live?
Backroad Almanac covers New England, New York and Pennsylvania. Weather alerts, like roof snow, freezes, hail, frost, the blanket call, the coop call, hive and hay weather, the boat watch and sap runs, work for any place in those states. Alerts from state agencies come from the states that publish them: hunting season openers in Pennsylvania, New York and all six New England states; permit and lottery deadlines in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont; pheasant stocking in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania; leftover licenses in Pennsylvania; trout stocking in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont; tournaments in Connecticut and Vermont; fair dates in Massachusetts and New York; shellfish closures in Maine and Rhode Island, and in Massachusetts seasonal reopenings and our estimate of rain closures under DMF’s rules (not Wellfleet or the Outer Cape); acorn and beechnut reports in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont. Each pack's page lists what it covers.
Not sure about your area? Write to us before you buy. And the 30-day money-back guarantee covers you either way.
Your place
What is a place?
A place is where you want us to watch: home, a cabin or camp, a parent's house, the barn, or the slip where your boat sits. One pack covers one place; Everything covers two.
Do you need my street address?
Usually not. You give us a ZIP code when you buy. Six alerts work best at an exact spot: roof snow, ice-dam weather, the empty-house watch, hail, a private well and the boat watch. For those we ask for a street address or a pin on a map after you pay, and until then they run on your ZIP code.
How far around my place do you look?
Weather alerts are for your spot, not your whole county or state. Alerts about things to go to, like stocked waters, fairs, hawk watches and bird spectacles, cover a distance you choose, such as 10, 25 or 50 miles.
Can I follow a beach, lake or river away from home?
Yes. Beaches, lakes, rivers, dams, waterfalls, hawk watches and wildlife areas you follow are a separate list, and they don't use up a place.
Plans and billing
How much does it cost?
Each pack is $49 a year. Everything, all six packs for two places, is $79 a year. There is no monthly plan and no free trial, and everyone pays the same price. See Pricing.
How does renewal work?
Your plan renews automatically once a year, on the anniversary of the day you bought it, at the same price, until you cancel. We email you a reminder about 30 days before, with the date and the amount.
How do I cancel?
Go to your account page (the "Manage your plan" link in any of our emails goes there) and tap Cancel renewal, then confirm. If you're not signed in, type your email and we'll send you a sign-in link; there is no password, and you don't need to call or write. Or reply to any email, or write to support@backroadalmanac.com, and we'll do it for you. Cancelling stops the next renewal; your alerts keep coming until the end of the year you paid for. Changed your mind before then? Turn renewal back on from the same page.
What is the money-back guarantee?
Within 30 days of buying, reply to any of our emails or write to support@backroadalmanac.com, and we'll refund your payment in full, to the card you paid with. No questions asked. A refund ends the plan.
Can I change packs or move up to Everything?
Yes. Write to support@backroadalmanac.com and we'll switch you over and sort out the price.
Can someone else get the alerts too?
Everything includes a second inbox, for a spouse, a neighbor who checks on the camp, or whoever does the chores. For each pack you choose who gets it: you, the other person, or both. Hunting and fishing can go to one of you, the birds and the garden to the other.
Is there a free version?
Yes. The Weekly Almanac comes every Sunday morning with what's coming up near you that week, plus free alerts for waterfalls running after rain, meteor showers with clear skies, and fishing and hunting license renewals. It takes an email address and a ZIP code, no card. Sign up here.
Privacy
What do you do with my information?
We use your email address and ZIP code, and a street address only if you give one for an alert that needs it, to send your alerts and run your plan. We don't sell or rent your information. Stripe handles payments, so we never see your card number. The details are on our Privacy page.
How do I stop the emails?
Every email has a way to unsubscribe at the bottom, or you can reply "stop". On a paid plan you can also switch off just the alerts you don't want.
Still have a question?
Write to support@backroadalmanac.com and a person answers.