Blue Sky for Big Sky Country but Smoke Looms

Fall weather does not get any better than this. The skies are clear, the temperatures very comfortable, fall colors are popping and the sun feels great. The current position of high pressure over the Pacific Northwest is providing Montana with picture-perfect conditions. A few very minor fronts will drop out of Canada with only very minor implications. Temperatures will drop a few degrees with little to nothing else noticeable. However, the high pressure will begin to shift through Wednesday into Thursday allowing some California wildfire smoke to move back into our sky. Haze will be visible on Thursday, but the air quality should remain good. At worst, a few locations may go to moderate air quality levels. The smoke will be short-lived as another minor Canadian front passes through early on Friday, pushing the smoke back down to the south. A few rare rain showers are possible early Friday over far eastern Montana. The first weekend of October will be something special with highs in the 70s to near 80 under mostly sunny skies. While this weather is very nice, Montana and much of the West is getting desperate for rain and snow. Drought continues to expand, especially in the central and southern Rockies out through California. Dry weather could continue into the middle of October, which would allow fire season to continue late this year.
Have a great day.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist