An AIR QUALITY ALERT is in effect for much of northern and central Montana for the next few days.
The air quality in parts of Montana is "unhealthy" and the culprit is out of state wildfires from Idaho, Washington and mainly Oregon. After a very dry winter there, thunderstorms and lightning have sparked large fires in those states. Most of the smoke that you see outside is from these states. Montana has had minimal wildfire activity up until recently, but now there are several fires in Montana that are growing in size. Montana's wildfire season is about to pick up as several more days of hot, dry and windy weather are ahead. Tuesday will be a hot, dry and smoky day. Fortunately, the wind will not be very strong. Highs will warm into the 90s for most areas with a southwest wind up to about 15mph in the afternoon. Wednesday will be hot and smoky with a few isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. One or two storms could come close to Helena, Bozeman, Lewistown, Billings, and late at night up in Glasgow. Highs again will be in the 90s. Thursday will be a hot and smoky day with an isolated storm up in the northeast part of the state. Not much change as far as temperatures go, with afternoon highs reaching the 90s. Friday will be a hot and smoky day, but the wind will start to pick up. Highs will be in the 90s to near 100 with a southwest wind gusting as high as 20-25mph. Saturday will be a hot, smoky and windy day with extremely high fire danger. Some gusts could top 30mph and highs will be in the 90s and low 100s. The wind and heat will precede a cold front that will move through Montana on Sunday. This front will bring more gusty wind to the state on Sunday, but temperatures will begin to cool. Highs will top out in the 80s and 90s. Some of northwest Montana including the Cut Bank area could have highs only in the 70s. Sunday night will be a cool night with many places dropping into the 40s. Monday will be mostly sunny and much cooler with highs in the 70s and 80. Unfortunately the air quality may not improve much as the wildfires in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia will not see significant precipitation. However, the change in wind this weekend may blow some of the smoke out of the picture for a few days.
Stay cool,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologis
