Your balcony is hotter than the forecast says.
Reading today's sun near Columbus…
Why your balcony is different
A quick illustration, not a setting: drag to see what an afternoon of direct sun does to the same plant on the same day.
Full afternoon sunSame day, shaded
Drag the handle to compare. This is a demo, not your balcony.
Orientation is everything
The same heatwave is a non-event on a north balcony and an oven on a south-west one. Weather apps don't ask. We ask first.
Pots have no buffer
Container soil dries in hours and roots overheat in dark pots, long before the leaves show it. We model the pot, not the garden bed.
Advice a renter can use
Jug watering, moving pots, a towel over the railing. Never “install drip irrigation”, because you don't own the wall.
The honest fine print
Balcony temperatures are an estimate built from your orientation-specific solar load (Open-Meteo), wind, and floor height. That's why we always show a range, never a single number. Plant thresholds are judgment calls from horticultural literature, tuned for pots. We'll tell you when we're unsure. If it doesn't help you, reply to any email within 7 days and you get your $9.99 back.