Smoke forecast
Where the smoke was, and where the model sends it next. Scrub back 12 hours or forward 48. Every hour shown is a model estimate, not a measurement.
If it smells like smoke outside and there's no fire nearby, you're almost certainly smelling wildfire smoke that traveled, often hundreds or thousands of miles. Wind carries smoke from large wildfires across entire regions, so the air can smell like a campfire even when the nearest fire is in another state or another country. The map above shows the smoke over your location right now and where it's headed.
Most smoke events in the Upper Midwest and eastern US come from Canadian wildfires, whose smoke rides the wind south and east for days. Western states in the US more often see smoke from fires in California, Oregon, Washington, and the Rockies. Variations exist across the globe. Scrub the timeline backward to watch where the smoke over you came from.
Allow location access and smokeshow will show the smoke in the air near you, what you'd likely smell and see, based on current forecast models. No account, or app required.
It depends on the wind and the fires, but for any single location, smoke usually arrives and clears in waves over hours to a few days rather than sitting for weeks. Smokeshow's headline answer is the clear time: the first stretch of at least six straight hours of cleaner air in the forecast. Check the verdict above for your location's clear time.
Smoke particles are so small they can stay suspended for days to weeks and travel across continents. What matters locally is the wind: a shift can clear a smoky sky in hours or bring a fresh wave just as fast. That's why this page shows the past 12 hours and a few days ahead, direction matters more than the moment.
Smoke forecasts are sharp for about the next one to two days and get fuzzier after that. Models must find the fires by satellite, estimate how much smoke each one makes, and then ride the wind forecast, and each step adds error (the full explanation is linked below). Smokeshow shows a detailed two-day window plus a five-day outlook, and tells you when the forecast models agree and when they don't. And we blend a few models to improve our guesses.
Smokeshow can't answer that for you, this tool just describes what the air is like, not what your body can handle. Sensitivity varies a lot with age, health, and activity from person to person. For health guidance during wildfire smoke, consider AirNow.gov and your local health authorities, and/or talk to a medical professional about your situation.
Forecasting smoke is like forecasting weather, with three extra problems stacked on top. You have to find the fires, which satellites can miss behind cloud or behind other smoke. You have to guess how much smoke each one is making. Then you ride a wind forecast, and height matters, because smoke high in the sky can pass right over a town whose air stays clean.
Each step adds a little error and the errors multiply, which is why forecasts are sharp for a day or two and fuzzy after that, and why this site tells you when the models disagree instead of averaging them into one confident line. The long version is here.
Smokeshow is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not health, medical, or safety advice. Forecasts are model estimates and can be wrong, sometimes by a lot. Descriptions of what you might smell, see, or feel are generalizations, not predictions about your body. For decisions about your health, outdoor activity, or air quality safety, rely on official sources like AirNow.gov, the National Weather Service, and your local health authorities, and talk to a medical professional about your own situation.