Question 1

What makes a day a good smoke day?

Accepted Answer

A day scores well when rain probability is low, sustained wind and gusts are mild for your cooker type, the temperature stays inside roughly 40-85 °F, and the wet-bulb temperature is low enough that long-stall cuts (brisket, pork butt, ribs) won't get stuck for hours. Each factor reduces the score with its own weight, capped at 0.

Question 2

Why does cooker type change the score?

Accepted Answer

An offset stick burner is roughly 15× more wind-sensitive than an electric smoker and pulls humidity from outside air, which feeds straight into stall risk. A kamado is heavily insulated with a small intake, so wind barely moves the needle. The score weights wind and humidity per cooker so an offset day and an electric day are evaluated on the right standard.

Question 3

How accurate is the forecast?

Accepted Answer

We pull from Open-Meteo as the primary source with the US National Weather Service as failover. Each day carries a confidence label — high for the next 24-48 hours, dropping to medium and then low further out. Treat the 5-7 day end of the window as a rough planning signal, not a commitment.

Question 4

Does the score include cooker output, fuel, or my altitude?

Accepted Answer

No. The score evaluates outdoor conditions only — what the weather is doing to your cook. Fuel quantity, cooker output, altitude, and pit-management style are out of scope here. Use the Charcoal Calculator and Cook Time Coordinator for those.

Best Smoke Days

Embed this calculator

Best Smoke Days

Get this forecast in your inbox every Friday

More Pitmaster Tools