About HikeDay: Hike Weather Planner

HikeDay shows where the hiking weather looks best across the contiguous United States for each of the next seven days, so you can pick where and when to go before digging into a detailed forecast.

How to use it

1. Search for a trailhead, peak, lake or town in the top bar, or zoom in to see trailhead and peak pins on the map.
2. Pick a day in the timeline at the bottom of the map.
3. Choose a weather layer: hiking suitability, precipitation chance or amount, high or low temperature, wind, cloud cover, new snow, thunderstorm risk, or wildfire smoke.
4. Hover over the map for a quick summary of any spot.
5. Click or tap a spot to open its point forecast from the National Weather Service, with hourly charts, sunrise and sunset, and a link to the full forecast on weather.gov.
6. Press Save in a point forecast to keep that spot under Saved places in the top bar. Saved places are stored in this browser only.

The map starts near your approximate location, estimated from your internet connection by our host, Vercel. It isn't stored. If you allow location access in your browser, the map moves to your precise location instead.

The hiking suitability score

The suitability layer rates each day from 0 to 100 using the daytime forecast (8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time). A day starts at 100 and loses points for:

• chance of precipitation, the biggest factor;
• cloud cover;
• wind above about 8 mph;
• an average daytime temperature outside roughly 55 to 75°F;
• wildfire smoke worse than “Good” on the air quality index, for today and tomorrow (the smoke forecast doesn't reach further). Heavy smoke can take off up to 45 points.

The Rain tolerance slider changes how much the chance of rain counts. A point forecast's hiking score uses the same formula, with smoke from the map's estimate for the nearest map point; its best hiking window doesn't account for smoke. The score is a quick way to compare areas and days, not a go or no-go decision. Always read the actual forecast for where you're going.

What it can't tell you

• Conditions on your exact route. The map samples the forecast about every 7 miles. In the mountains, conditions change a lot over that distance: a ridge or summit can be far colder and windier than the map shows. Open the point forecast, check its elevation, and see Reading mountain forecasts.
• Anything outside the contiguous US. Alaska, Hawaii and the territories aren't covered yet.
• The very latest forecast. The map updates about every six hours; the note under the day timeline shows when. Point forecasts are fetched live from the National Weather Service when you open them.
• Warnings and alerts. This site doesn't show watches, warnings or advisories. Check weather.gov for your area before you go.

HikeDay is a planning aid, not an official forecast. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by NOAA or the National Weather Service. See Trail weather safety for tips on staying safe when the weather turns, and Data sources for where the data comes from.