NOAA Air Quality Maps
Does your camera prefer blue skies over gray? So does mine. I use these free forecast maps from NOAA and the National Weather Service to see how ozone or wildfire smoke will impact my travels:
- Air Quality Forecast Guidance – CONUS Area
Includes Ozone, Surface Smoke, Vertical Smoke Integration, and Surface/Column Dust Concentration - NOAA HRRR-Smoke
Weather Forecasts

Weather apps are great tools for populated places—but the best campsites and hikes are usually nowhere near weather stations—and even when one is nearby, it’s often at a vastly different elevation, making conditions difficult to predict.
Thankfully the National Weather Service provides point forecasts that are elevation-specific! Below are direct links to the forecast for several key locations:
National Parks
- Bryce Canyon
- Campgrounds/Lodge Loop 8,000 ft
- Crater Lake
- Mazama Campground 5,800 ft
- Rim Village 6,800 ft
- Kings Canyon
- Cedar Grove 4,700 ft
- Redwood
- Sequoia
- Lodgepole Campground 6,700 ft
- Yellowstone
- Canyon Campground 8,250 ft
- Madison Campground 7,000 ft
- Mammoth 5,750 ft
- Old Faithful 7,400 ft
- Yosemite
- Half Dome Village 4,000 ft
- Tuolumne Meadows 8,650 ft
California
- Devils Postpile National Monument 7,600 ft
- Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park 1,075 ft
Utah
- Cedar Breaks National Monument
- Point Supreme Campground 10,400 ft
- Green River 4,100 ft