Abstract In this article, a free-space-optics (FSO) model for a metro city based on real-time visibility data under different weather conditions is presented. Here, the relation between atmospheric attenuation and visibility value and its impact on the FSO performance is carried out. Also, the hybrid-SIM modulation technique is applied for the bit error rate (BER) improvement of the system. Here, Bhubaneswar (the capital of Odisha, India) is considered for the above analysis. The total attenuation, BER, and link margin are calculated for the FSO performance evaluation of Bhubaneswar city and these are simulated using Matlab. The simulation results show that the proposed hybrid-SIM modulation technique achieves about 2.9 dB of SNR improvement than the existing BPSK-SIM technique. Also, from the link margin analysis, it is observed that the sunny day is the most suitable for FSO link transmission. These results can be helpful to decide the FSO parameters and the FSO setup can be designed for any city.