Wildfire smoke, time zones, and the weather on the drive

The weather on arrival day was never the whole story. What matters in a big rig is the weather on the road, the fire burning a few miles off it, and what time it'll actually be when you pull in. RV Compass now covers all three.

Fire and smoke on the map

A flame button on the planner map turns on current fire perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center, and today's smoke from NOAA's Hazard Mapping System, drawn under your route. From June through October it's on by default. The data refreshes every 15 minutes while the layer is on.

Warnings on drives and stops

Every drive in the next week is checked against the fires along its route, and drives leaving today are checked for heavy smoke too. A fire within 10 miles of the route is a caution. Within a mile, it's a danger. Stops get the same check with a wider net, since you'll be sitting there: a caution for a fire within 25 miles, a danger within 5. Fire warnings count toward the drive's weather badge, alongside the forecast and National Weather Service watches and warnings.

If the fire data can't be loaded, the warning says "Wildfire data unavailable." It never shows an all-clear it didn't earn.

In the cab

While you navigate, the app checks for fires and heavy smoke over the next 150 miles, or to tonight's stop. It says each one once, and again only if it gets worse. Perimeters within 50 miles of you are drawn on the map.

Time zones, finally

A long western drive can cross a time zone without you noticing until you're an hour late for check-in. The itinerary now marks each crossing on the drive, like "Enters Mountain Time (clocks go back 1 hour)", and shows arrival in local time: "arrive about 3:40 PM MDT."

In navigation, the app says it as you cross: "Entering Mountain Time. Clocks go back one hour." The arrival time on screen reads the destination's clock, with the zone shown when it's different from your phone's.

Drive-day weather

The forecast now follows the drive, not just the destination. Each drive shows the weather along the route at the hour you'll get there, so the wind on the open stretch at 2 PM shows up as clearly as the rain at the campground. For what to do with all of it, read RV travel in wildfire season. The departure brief still sums up each arrival day the night before.