An AIR QUALITY WARNING continues for most of Montana into Tuesday morning.
Thick smoke and bad air quality arrived in the state on Sunday. This will continue to be a problem for the entirety of this week. An area of low pressure will be nearly stationary off the coast of Washington and Oregon this week. A southwest flow ahead of this low will steer significant smoke from California, Washington, Oregon and Idaho into Montana. This pattern will not change until this weekend when the area of low pressure moves in from the Pacific bringing rain and wind, cleaning out the atmosphere somewhat. Because the fires in California and Oregon will not get rain, they will continue to burn. So, the source of the smoke will not change and there is potential for this smoke to blow into Montana for as long as these fires are burning. Try to avoid exerting yourself outside when the air quality is this bad. The best place to be is inside an air-conditioned building.
Stay healthy.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
