Methodology & Data Sources
How we turn raw data into a single, plain-language answer.
How a verdict is built
Each site pulls the relevant data for your location, runs it through a transparent scoring function specific to that question, and maps the result to one of five plain verdicts — Great, Good, Okay, Poor, Bad. The card leads with the answer in everyday terms; the underlying numbers (and what they mean) sit just beneath it, so you can dig in without needing to.
How fresh the data is
Most sites refresh daily — the answer is computed from the latest available data each morning and is cached for speed. Reference data that doesn’t change day to day (radon zones, average frost dates) is shown with its source vintage in the “data as of” line on each card. If a live source is unavailable for your location, we show an honest “data unavailable” state rather than a fabricated answer.
Where the data comes from
We present public data from official and established sources, with attribution. We are not affiliated with any of these organizations.
| Topic | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Weather (grill, kite, car wash, open windows) | Temperature, wind, rain probability, clouds | Open-Meteo (NOAA NWS fallback) |
| Air quality (open windows, stargazing) | US Air Quality Index | Open-Meteo US AQI |
| Pollen | Tree / grass / weed pollen (0–5 Universal Pollen Index) | Google Pollen API |
| Migraine (barometric pressure) | Surface pressure history + forecast | Open-Meteo |
| Aurora | Geomagnetic activity (Kp index) | NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center |
| Stargazing & meteor showers | Moon phase, twilight, sun/moon position | Astronomical calculation (SunCalc) |
| Meteor showers | Annual shower peak dates & rates | Standard meteor-shower calendar (IMO) |
| ISS pass | Orbital elements + pass prediction | CelesTrak TLE + SGP4 propagation |
| Radon | County radon zone (1–3) | EPA Map of Radon Zones |
| Frost dates | Average last-spring / first-fall freeze | NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals |
| Bird migration | Nightly migration likelihood | Seasonal model + weather (estimate, not live radar) |
| Locations | US city coordinates, ZIP, population | US Census + GeoNames |
Limitations
Forecasts are estimates and conditions vary locally. Health-adjacent sites (migraine, radon) present environmental data for general information only and are not medical advice. Bird-migration intensity is a seasonal-and-weather estimate, not live radar. Spotting an error? We’d like to know — see the contact address on our about page.