Changelog

Two tools went live for Marfa. Marfa Air & Dust reads the air over town through the day and, on a hazy day, tells you whether it's coarse blown dust or fine wildfire smoke — usually the sky here is wide and clean, so this is for spotting the days it isn't. Monsoon Road Reports is a neighbour board for the roads out of town in storm season: Highway 90 east to Alpine, Highway 90 west to Valentine, Highway 67 south to Presidio, and the Pinto Canyon dirt. Tap the one you just drove and say whether it's clear, slow going, or blocked with high water; the board shows the recent middle report, alongside TxDOT's official map. And if water is over the road, turn around.

With no hospital and only a small grocery in town, a lot of Marfa life is the 26-mile run to Alpine. The new tool lays out what you have to leave town for — the ER, the pharmacy, a full shop, hardware, the vet, the train — and works out what one round trip costs in fuel from your own car and today's pump price. It's honest that even Alpine has no Walmart: the nearest is about 100 miles on.

Marfa sits in one of the darkest skies in North America — the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve. The new tool shows the moon's phase and the hours of true darkness for each of the next two weeks, names the best night to go out, and points to the Mystery Lights viewing area on US-90 and the McDonald Observatory star parties up in Fort Davis. It's pure astronomy, so it's always current with nothing to keep refreshed.

Straight answers to the questions visitors and newcomers ask most — where and when to see the Marfa Lights, that Prada Marfa is really out near Valentine, how to get here, what to expect at the Border Patrol checkpoint, and the dark skies and McDonald Observatory.

Three tools to start: what's open today (Marfa's hours are famously changeable), live National Weather Service warnings for Presidio County, and a who-to-call card that leads with the nearest ER — in Alpine, about 26 miles east.