Existing fires continued to burn over the weekend, especially the fires between Butte and Bozeman, and the Ash Creek complex in southeastern Montana. A ridge of high pressure sat over Montana for all of Saturday and early Sunday, providing weather conditions to allow smoke to “spread out” across an area, more so than a definite, cone-shaped plume headed in one direction. Air quality in Billings was slightly impacted by the broad area of smoke in southeastern Montana. On Sunday, a cold front moved through in the late afternoon. The atmosphere was very moist and unstable, spawning several thunderstorms across the state with frequent lightning. One known fire ignited southeast of Helena, with smoke spreading out across Broadwater County. Thankfully though, yesterday’s thunderstorms provided some much-needed rain to many dry parts of the state.
This morning, inversions developed across western valleys, and many were about 2,000 to 3,000 feet above ground level. Some fog can even be seen on visible satellite (below). Those inversions will dissipate by this afternoon, when sunlight gets temperatures above normal for another day. Winds will be fairly light today, except off the Rocky Mountain Front, where High Wind Warnings have been issued. In the plains, surface winds will generally come from the northwest; and to the west, winds will be variable. Relative humidities will drop during the afternoon hours, but should not reach critical levels much less than 20%. Tomorrow should be critical fire day, as Fire Weather Watches have already been issued for much of southern Montana. A cold front is expected, reaching Missoula in the late morning, Helena and Great Falls between 1:00 – 3:00, and far eastern Montana before midnight. There is only a very slight chance for any thunderstorms to develop. Winds along the cold front will be very gusty again from the west. Since the cold front is not anticipated across eastern Montana until after the peak heating of the day, temperatures will get very warm and relative humidities will drop below 15-20%. Relative humidities will also drop in southwestern Montana to around 20%. Tomorrow will be a busy fire day and air quality will be a concern as fires grow and smoke becomes more concentrated downwind of fires. Bozeman, Billings, and many small towns in the southeast counties should watch for smoke impacts tomorrow as fire activity increases. Bozeman and Billings should only see MODERATE particulate concentrations, but towns closer to and downwind of the fires could see UNHEALTHY levels. All other locations should stay GOOD.
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Most fires from last week continued to burn this weekend. Billings and Bozeman saw minor smoke impacts. A cold front and thunderstorms passed on Sunday, sparking some new fires, but also providing some much-needed rain to very dry areas. Today, fire weather won’t be much of an issue anywhere. Winds should stay light, except off the Rocky Mountain Front, and relative humidities won’t reach very critical levels. Tomorrow, a cold front is anticipated from late morning through the night, west to east, bringing strong winds and low relative humidities. Thunderstorm chances are slim. The rest of the week looks dry, as we enter into another short warm-up. |