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
The US Forest Service and EPA have also teamed up to bring us:
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
- Arches
- Devils Garden Campground 5,200 ft
- Big Bend
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison
- South Rim Campground 8,000 ft
- Bryce Canyon
- Campgrounds/Lodge Loop 8,000 ft
- Canyonlands
- Needles District Campground 4,900 ft
- Willow Flat Campground 6,069 ft
- Capitol Reef
- Fruita Campground 5,400 ft
- Crater Lake
- Mazama Campground 5,800 ft
- Rim Village 6,800 ft
- Death Valley
- Furnace Creek -183 ft
- Panamint Springs 1,900 ft
- Stovepipe Wells 180 ft
- Wildrose 4,400 ft
- Dante’s View 5,100 ft
- Emigrant Campground 2,175 ft
- Mesquite Spring Campground 1,850 ft
- Grand Canyon
- Mather Campground 7,000 ft
- North Rim Campground 8,200 ft
- Phantom Ranch 2,546 ft
- Great Basin
- Upper Lehman Creek Campground 7,500 ft
- Wheeler Peak Campground 9,886 ft
- Great Sand Dunes
- Piñon Flats Campground 8,234 ft
- Guadalupe Mountains
- Pine Springs 5,822 ft
- Joshua Tree
- Black Rock Campground 4,150 ft
- Cottonwood Campground 3,150 ft
- Hidden Valley Campground 4,200 ft
- Indian Cove Campground 3,200 ft
- Kings Canyon
- Cedar Grove 4,700 ft
- Lassen Volcanic
- Manzanita Lake 6,200 ft
- Mesa Verde
- Morefield Campground 7,775 ft
- Pinnacles
- Pinnacles Campground 1,230 ft
- Redwood
- Rocky Mountain
- Alpine Visitor Center 11,800 ft
- Moraine Park Campground 8,160 ft
- Saguaro
- Cactus Forest 2,874 ft
- Sequoia
- Lodgepole Campground 6,700 ft
- White Sands 4,000 ft
- Yellowstone
- Canyon Campground 8,250 ft
- Madison Campground 7,000 ft
- Mammoth 5,750 ft
- Old Faithful 7,400 ft
- Yosemite
- Curry Village 4,000 ft
- Tuolumne Meadows 8,650 ft
- Zion
- South Campground 3,940 ft
Arkansas
- Buffalo National River
Arizona
California
- Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
- Agua Caliente County Park 1,400 ft
- Borrego Palm Canyon Campground 970 ft
- Devils Postpile National Monument 7,600 ft
- Lake Tahoe Area
- Fallen Leaf Campground 6,377 ft
- Malibu Creek State Park Campground 600 ft
- Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park 1,075 ft
Colorado
- Arapaho National Recreation Area
- Arapaho Bay Campground 8,320 ft
- Green Ridge Campground 8,360 ft
- White River National Forest
- Difficult Campground/Aspen 8,180 ft
- Prospector Campground 9,000 ft
- Redstone Campground 7,200 ft
- Silver Queen Campground 8,700 ft
Nebraska
- Chadron State Park
- Chimney Rock
- Fort Robinson State Park
- Niobrara State Park
- Ponca State Park
- Smith Falls State Park
Nevada
- Humboldt National Forest
- Thomas Canyon Campground 7,600 ft
- Lamoille Canyon/Roads End Trailhead 8,800 ft
- Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
- Valley of Fire State Park 2,050 ft
New Mexico
- Las Cruces 3,900 ft
Oklahoma
- Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
- Doris Campground 1,509 ft
South Dakota
- Black Hills National Forest
- Bismarck Lake Campground
- Custer State Park
Tennessee
- Reelfoot Lake State Park
- South Campground 260 ft
Texas
- Palo Duro Canyon State Park
Utah
- Cedar Breaks National Monument
- Point Supreme Campground 10,400 ft
- Dead Horse Point State Park
- Kayenta Campground 5,872 ft
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
- Calf Creek Campground 5,314 ft
- Green River 4,100 ft
Wyoming
- Ayers Natural Bridge
- Independence Rock