MileCheck / Mountains / Mount Baker / Best time
Mount Baker · seasons

Best time of year to see Mount Baker

Months, hours, and the one weather pattern that fools people.

The app

Mountain Visibility Forecast

All four mountains, a push when yours comes out. $0.99 once.

Join the iOS beta Android coming soon

From Vancouver the mountain is most reliable from July into early October. Late September and October often bring a run of clear cold mornings before the winter overcast sets in.

Abbotsford and Bellingham are closer and on the corridor toward the mountain, and are often clear when the coast is socked in. Anacortes and the islands see it across the water on the same days.

November through February is mostly overcast at the coast, with the mountain appearing on the clear days after a front. Sunset lights the west side, which is what Vancouver sees.

Right now

Right now · from Vancouver, BC · Pacific time

Reading the airports along the sightline.

Clear windows, next three days

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Sunrise and sunset light

By region

Mountain Visibility Forecast

Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Mount Baker, Denali in one app. Picks the mountain nearest you, reads your part of the region, and tells you when it is out. $0.99 once. No account, no ads, your location stays on your phone.

Join the iOS beta Android coming soon

Questions

How do we know if Mount Baker is visible?

We read the cloud ceilings at the airports between Vancouver, BC and the summit, the cloud layers at the summit from the MET Norway model, and whether that cloud sits below 10,781 ft. No crowd reports.

Why only three days?

Cloud forecasts stop being useful after about three days. A ten-day visibility forecast is a calendar with random numbers on it.

Why does Surrey get a different answer than Vancouver, BC?

Different weather stations, different sky. The same morning can be fog in one and clear in the other, twenty miles apart. Each region page reads its own stations.

Limitations

Wildfire smoke and haze can hide the mountain on a day the cloud numbers say clear. When the numbers are unsure, the page says so.

Seasonal notes are general patterns, not a forecast. The live panel is the forecast.