Well that was a lovely summer day. We haven't had that many nice summer days with comfortable temperatures, clean air, blue sky and light wind. Parts of Montana are still seeing the benefits of the rain earlier this week. A cold front passed through the state late on Wednesday, marking the end of a series of windy days. Most of the state currently has good air quality, and the activity on current wildfires has slowed with the wind. However, temperatures will be on the rise through the weekend. The wind will also return by Sunday, making for extremely dangerous fire conditions. Friday the 13th will be a decent August day, with clear skies and highs in the 80s and low 90s. The wind will remain light out of the east. Saturday will be a hot day as highs climb up into the mid and upper 90s, but the wind should still be fairly light out of the west up to 15mph. Sunday is a different story. It will be hot and windy with another big wildfire day likely as wildfires could explode. The combination of hot temperatures and a strong west wind could allow existing fires to grow exponentially once again. Next week, it is likely that another wet and cool storm system will impact much of Montana. While the fire danger will start off high on Monday, many locations could be looking at a repeat of last Sunday's rain and cooler temperatures. Rain and cooler temperatures will sweep across the state through Tuesday into Wednesday. This is likely to be a significant rain with highs on Tuesday only in the 60s and 70s. Areas of rain will continue into Wednesday morning before clearing. Another cooler airmass and more rain is possible later Thursday into Friday. The rest of August looks much more temperate compared to July. Not to say there won't be any new large fires, but the conditions are not as severe as earlier in the summer.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
