Popular Locations
Each area below has its own page of forecast, air quality, and webcam links, grouped by the towns you would actually check before driving out. These are the same regions the trip reports and Accommodation pages use, so you can line up the forecast with a place to sleep and with who has been there.
A town that is useful from two directions is listed under both regions rather than under whichever came first — Saskatchewan River Crossing serves the Icefields Parkway and David Thompson Country equally, and Golden serves Yoho, Rogers Pass, and the Purcells.
Kananaskis and Canmore
Close enough to Calgary to decide on the morning of.
The Front Ranges and the Forestry Trunk Road
East of the parks and mostly unpaved: the Ghost, Ya Ha Tinda, Nordegg, and the Bighorn.
The Mountain Parks
The national parks and Assiniboine, from the Bow Valley up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper.
The South
The Crowsnest, the Castle, and Waterton, continuing across the border into Montana.
West of the Divide
Over into BC: the Purcells, the Elk Valley, and the Selkirks around Rogers Pass.
Beyond the Rockies
Weekend-trip range rather than day-trip range, and a different weather regime on each.