What the app shows you
Full FogCast score, fog type, chase-or-skip verdict, and 10-day outlook — all in the app.
Get LightCast Suite on iOS
Know before you drive: FogCast checks the conditions that produce photogenic fog
Get more than a snapshot of current conditions. The LightCast app unlocks everything to plan ahead
Humidity alone isn't enough. Wind alone isn't enough. Cloud cover alone isn't enough. Photogenic valley fog requires several conditions to line up at once, and most weather apps don't read them together.
Set a FogCast threshold once. The app will alert you when conditions at your saved locations look promising, so you're not manually checking at 4am.
Don't waste a sunrise drive. Check FogCast before you leave.
Download on the App StoreMount Baker is a 3,286-meter glacier-clad stratovolcano in the North Cascades near the Canadian border, one of the snowiest spots on Earth and surrounded by dense forest and wide river valleys. The Nooksack River valley to the south and the open agricultural lowlands of Whatcom County produce excellent radiation fog conditions in autumn, and when valley fog fills to the 500 to 800-meter level, the lower flanks of Baker disappear into white while the upper glaciated peak remains clear.
The viewpoints along the Mount Baker Highway (SR-542) between Deming and the Glacier area provide above-fog positions when valley fog is thick in the Nooksack lowlands. Artist Point at the road end (1,539 meters) is the highest accessible viewpoint in summer and autumn, offering sweeping views that include both the volcanic peak and, on fog days, a white sea filling the valleys below. The most reliable fog photography season runs from October through January.
Fog in the Mount Baker area forms in the broader Whatcom County lowlands and river valleys on clear, cold, calm nights. The valley locations are quite different in character from the high subalpine zone — the fog rarely reaches above 1,000 meters, so the mountain itself is typically clear while the valleys are socked in. This elevation gap is what makes the photography compelling.