Camping Forecast

Welcome to the Upper Midwest Camping Forecast! This app ranks all 131 Wisconsin and Minnesota state parks by day-by-day camping conditions over the next 7 days. The forecast issue time is shown beside the map.

How scores work

Each park gets a daily camping score from 0 to 1 — higher is better. It's a weighted blend of these factors:

• TemperatureHighest when the daytime high is comfortable and the night is bearable — a pleasant afternoon doesn't redeem a 30°F night in a tent. Genuinely dangerous temperatures are handled separately: a 95°F high, a 40°F high, an 80°F low or a 20°F low each cut the whole score in half on their own.
• PrecipitationLight drizzle is a minor penalty. Heavy rain significantly drops the score.
• WindCalm conditions score highest. Penalty kicks in above 15 mph.
• MosquitosHigher score means fewer expected mosquitos. Combines nearby wetland habitat with the past fortnight's rain, plus forecast temperature, humidity and wind.
• StormsFlags days the forecast codes a thunderstorm (WMO 95/96/99), scaled by how likely rain is that day — a storm the model is only 25% committed to dents the score, while a 90% storm drives this factor near zero. Storms and heavy rain also drag every other factor down: temperature and mosquitos stop mattering much when you're staking down a tent in lightning.
• Air QualityTakes whichever is worse of Open-Meteo's modeled AQI and EPA AirNow's observations, so wildfire smoke isn't missed. Scores 1.0 at AQI ≤ 50 (Good), 0 at AQI ≥ 150 — and hazardous smoke (AQI 150–300+) collapses the whole camping score toward 0, like a storm does. AirNow only forecasts a couple of days ahead, so later days in the week lean on the model alone and are less reliable for smoke.

StargazingShown in the detail chart based on cloud cover, but not included in the camping score — cloudy nights don't ruin a trip.

Map colors

Use the date tabs to see how conditions shift day by day.

Built by 4th Coast Consulting

Need custom data pipelines, forecasting models, or geospatial analysis? 4thcoastconsulting.com

Data sources & credits

• Weather & modeled air quality — Open-Meteo, licensed CC BY 4.0. Forecasts come from the ECMWF IFS model; modeled air quality from CAMS.
• Observed air quality — EPA AirNow. AirNow data are preliminary and have not been verified by the originating agency.
• Wetland habitat — NLCD 2021 (USGS/MRLC), processed in Google Earth Engine
• Park locations — Wisconsin DNR and Minnesota DNR GIS services; two Wisconsin sites geocoded via Nominatim (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL)
• Park photos — courtesy of the Wisconsin and Minnesota Departments of Natural Resources; each photo links to its source park page
• Maps — basemap © Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors; satellite imagery © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics
• Built with — Leaflet (BSD-2) and Chart.js (MIT)

Camping scores are an independent product of 4th Coast Consulting and are not endorsed by any data provider. Not for use in decisions affecting health or safety — check official forecasts and air quality advisories before you travel.