Weather Resources

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
• 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
• 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
• Redwood
  • Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park 200 ft
• 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

• 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
• Malibu Creek State Park Campground 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