About SmokeForecast

A fast national map that helps answer one question: where is wildfire smoke forecast to be, and when?

What you’re looking at

The map shows near-surface smoke from NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model — specifically mass density (MASSDEN) about 8 meters above ground across the contiguous United States.

Short-range frames cover f00–f18 from the newest hourly HRRR cycle. When a 00/06/12/18Z extended cycle is available, the timeline continues with f19–f48 (~2 days) from that run. Colors are a custom concentration ramp in µg/m³ (converted from the model’s kg/m³ units).

Model forecast, not AQI

HRRR smoke is a modeled tracer. It is useful for seeing where smoke is likely to move, but it is not a complete air-quality estimate and should not be treated as an official Air Quality Index (AQI). For health decisions, use authoritative local air-quality products.

Data & attribution

• Model data: NOAA / NCEP HRRR
• Distribution: AWS Open Data Registry (NOAA HRRR)
• Basemap: OpenStreetMap contributors / CARTO (Phase 1 hosted style)

SmokeForecast is an independent visualization. It is not affiliated with NOAA, the National Weather Service, or any government agency.

How it works (short version)

A batch processor pulls the smoke field from each HRRR GRIB2 file, reprojects it, applies the color scale, and publishes pre-colored PMTiles. The website is a static MapLibre app that reads those tiles and a small JSON catalog — no live tile server and no accounts.