Air quality is dropping from GOOD to MODERATE for long-term exposures in several monitoring sites. Extreme southwestern Montana was MODERATE yesterday, and now those impacts are spreading. Hamilton, Butte, and Bozeman are now showing MODERATE 24-hour particulate concentrations, and hourly concentrations are steadily increasing. West Yellowstone is also seeing higher 1-hour average concentrations, and 24-hour average concentrations will be at MODERATE in the next few hours if the trend continues. Across eastern Montana, and particularly southeastern Montana, air quality is being heavily impacted by erratic wildfires south of I-90 in Treasure, Rosebud, and Big Horn Counties. Communities near these fires, like Lame Deer, Hardin, and Colstrip are seeing up to VERY UNHEALTHY smoke conditions. This will continue this evening and UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS conditions will spread into other parts of southeastern Montana tonight as smoke settles to the ground. Today, winds are becoming gusty and relative humidity values are already nearing single-digits. A thin layer of high-altitude smoke is visible on satellite images, and was responsible for the red sunrise that some of us saw this morning. A weather disturbance is currently moving across the state, which prompted Red Flag Warnings through tonight for low relative humidity, gusty winds, and thunderstorms with little rain. Those thunderstorms are very isolated in southwestern Montana currently, but will slowly spread east and northeast throughout the evening. Lightning from these storms may spark new fires, and gusty winds around the thunderstorms would easily fan a nearby wildfire.
The forecast for the next week is not very hopeful in the way of fire suppression and lessening smoke impacts. A hot, stagnant ridge of high pressure will sit over the western US for at least the next week. Temperatures will be very hot in the afternoons, especially on Wednesday, which should be the hottest day of the week. Relative humidities will also be very low in the afternoons, again, especially on Wednesday as an area of very dry air moves over the state. Smoke should accumulate over the state as currently known fires continue to burn, both in the western forests and in the southeast, but also smoke will slowly blow in from other states, like Idaho. In the event of heavy, stagnant smoke, this website will be updated at least twice a day (morning and afternoon) and as conditions warrant. |
Air quality is decreasing across the state as smoke from Idaho and here in Montana start to fill the air. Southwestern Montana is slowly starting to see MODERATE conditions spread across that region of the state. In southeastern Montana, huge fires continue to burn erratically, and under today’s Red Flag conditions, which is causing VERY UNHEALTHY smoke conditions in nearby towns. A weather disturbance is currently moving across the state, causing elevated winds, low relative humidities, and isolated thunderstorms. These storms have the potential for frequent lightning with little to no rain. The forecast for the rest of the week is hot, dry, and stagnant. Smoke impacts may become more severe as the week goes on and fire activity increases. |