Hey, Dale, here to help you out. You can forecast the smoke just like weather about 3 days out quite accurately, because the smoke is affected by weather patterns it’s similar to forecasting weather. Recently I had a paid aerial project here in Canada and the smoke was extremely thick. I was able to forecast a perfect day when the wind direction changed and the smoke blew away from the area. When I arrived at my location several hundreds of miles away, it was clear for my shoot day. Go to this link for fire forecasting and bookmark it. It’s a very useful tool. If you need any help using it, let me know, but the interface is very easy to use.
Smoke Forecast - FireSmoke.ca. The very palest yellow, the smoke is barely visible in the distance, just to give you a handle on the smoke scale or legend. I’ve shot in the lightest yellow and you can barely notice anything.