Why we made Smokeshow

We wanted to go outside

That is most of it. The data for whether that is a good idea already exists, in public: a federal smoke model, a European one, federal fire reporting, satellite heat detections. It is just scattered across separate agencies, in formats built for people who do this for a living. Getting a straight answer meant digging, every time, and by the time you had it the afternoon was gone.

So we stopped digging and built the thing we wanted. One page, one question.

We like being outside. The activity, the weather, the feeling of being in it. Smoke turns that inside out. The air you went out for becomes the reason to stay in, and it takes the run, the game, the trip, the weekend with it. You end up resenting a sky. What you want in that moment is not a dashboard. It is an answer you can plan around.

Which is why this site leads with a clear time rather than a reading. It is the first stretch of at least six straight hours the forecast holds cleaner, and the six-hour rule is there because smoke does not leave cleanly. It thins, comes back, thins again. An answer you can make a plan on has to be longer than the next dip.

The name

A watch cap is the wool cap North Atlantic fishermen wore for centuries before it became standard issue at sea. Hand made, simple, still worn by the most elite operators and sometimes by baristas in Brooklyn. It is for noticing. That is the idea. Notice.

Which is what this site asks of you. Every level on the scale is anchored to how far you can see, and every city page names the hill, the tower or the peak that goes at each step, because visibility is the one reading you can take yourself without trusting us. Look out the window. That is the instrument.

What we will not do

Dress up a guess. Everything here is a model estimate, including the hours before now. Those are the model's account of the past, not measurements. Where the models disagree, the page says so instead of showing you the prettier one.

There is no account, no email capture, nothing sold, and no advertising against your weather. The site is free to use, and nothing here starts costing money without us telling you the price first.

And Smokeshow is information, not advice. It cannot tell you whether the air is safe for you to breathe, and it does not try. For that, use AirNow.gov, the National Weather Service, your local health authorities, and a professional who knows your situation.

Where the numbers come from

Forecast: NOAA HRRR-Smoke, Copernicus CAMS, Open-Meteo. Fires: NIFC WFIGS. Thermal hotspots: NASA FIRMS. The hotspots are heat detections rather than confirmed fires, and the fire cards carry the date each fact was reported, because a fire report is not a forecast and does not move with the timeline.

Generated using Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information.

Smokeshow is made by WatchCap Studio. A studio because we like to make. Live with attention. Make with attention. Enjoy it.