Here's something a little different: chilly air. Morning lows got cool, maybe not frosty-cool, but there was a little chill in the air. Now back to the wildfire situation. Fires continue to be very active with air quality suffering. This weekend will be hot with isolated thunderstorms and continued high fire danger but...there is some relief on the way. 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 the 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. 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. Later Sunday and all of 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. Another chance for thunderstorms will occur on Thursday. Overall, the first couple of weeks in August do not look at treacherously hot as July.
Have a great weekend.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
