An AIR QUALITY WARNING continues for much of Montana into Friday.
Monsoon moisture is surging through the West. It's been a very healthy monsoon year for a lot of the 4-corner states. There's even been widespread flash flooding and improvement in the drought status down there. In the northern Rockies and across Montana, the monsoon pattern has resulted lots of lightning strikes resulting in wildfire starts, and of course poor air quality. A surge of moisture moving north through the West over the next few days will offer some much needed moisture and there will be significant rain on some wildfires. Smoke will continue to be an issue for the next several days and several weeks at least, but this rain may offer a temporary reprieve. There are too many fires creating too much smoke. So the sky will continue to be very smoky and gray. The clouds and smoke will work together to block out some sunlight and temperatures will not be quite as hot as they would be if skies were clear. Friday and Saturday will be mostly sunny with a few isolated thunderstorms, smoky and dry with highs in the 90s. Air quality will depend on day to day fire activity. Sunday and Monday there will be scattered showers and thunderstorms with the potential of some cooler air for a little relief. Some good rain is possible with the storms on Monday and Tuesday. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
