For many years, it was reported that the number of “clear” days at the Grand Canyon was dropping, and one of the reasons given was the pollution from Navajo Generating Station, which was the biggest coal-fired plant in the US. Well, NGS has been shut down for a number of years now (I just drove by the abandoned coal silos yesterday ). Has this actually improved the view at GC?
The last time I was there, this city boy was shocked when reminded by the night sky there is this thing called the Milky Way. So, yeah, clear skies.
The NPS site has several webcams. Visibility looks pretty good at the moment.
I was at the North Rim not long ago. I stayed at the Lodge just before it burned down. We had an excellent rim view cabin. Absolutely stunning. We also drove out to Toroweap Overlook. That’s 60+ miles of trail from Colorado City AZ to get to.
Visibility and the air quality looked excellent, to my untrained eye (I wasn’t looking for air pollution).