Arts & Coast
Map
Big Sur · 3D satellite

Big Sur, in 3D.

Satellite imagery over real terrain, centred on Nepenthe, with the live webcams along the coast — tap a 📷 dot for the view. When there is a fire, its perimeter, evacuation zones and satellite heat draw here too. Drag to orbit, two fingers to tilt.

Explore Big Sur in 3D
Satellite imagery over real terrain. It downloads about 6 MB, so it waits for you.
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reading the fire feeds
Local reporting
For what is actually happening on the ground, read BigSurKate. She has covered this coast for years and is consistently the fastest and most accurate source on Big Sur fires and Highway 1 — usually well ahead of the official feeds this page reads. This map shows you where; Kate tells you what it means.
Webcam Fire lookout cam Fire perimeter Satellite heat Evacuation order · road closed Evacuation warning Buildings within 7 mi of the fire Buildings further out Fire · ranger · police Fuel Lodging Campground

Webcams belong to their operators; each popup links to the operator's live page. The Nepenthe view is the restaurant's own public weather cam, refreshed about once a minute. The perimeter is the newest available: an official NIFC line when one exists, otherwise the most recent CAL FIRE / FIRIS aerial infrared flight, otherwise our own MODIS and VIIRS satellite estimate. A flown heat perimeter is not a containment line — the real fire edge will differ, and unshaded ground is not safe ground. Terrain is exaggerated 1.5× to make the ridges legible. Buildings and the businesses along the coast road come from OpenStreetMap, so you can read the burn against the places people actually know. Buildings within 7 miles of the fire edge are picked out in blue purely so they are findable against the terrain — that colour is not a damage report, a threat ranking or an evacuation boundary. A pin means a place exists there — never that it is open, reachable, evacuated or undamaged. We do not track that; ring ahead. For evacuation orders always follow CAL FIRE and Monterey County alerts, and read BigSurKate for the local picture.

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