Powerful, violent wind that fanned the flames of several wildfires on Monday has calmed down. A bit of a breeze developed on Tuesday afternoon, but the weather was very, very average for the dog days of summer. Temperatures, sky conditions, humidity values and the afternoon wind were all very typical for the later half of July in Montana. This average-ish weather will continue most of this week. Several of the wildfires that grew in Monday's wind are showing much less activity. A new fire, the Hog Trough Fire in the Sapphire Mountains east of the Bitterroot Valley developed in the wind and grew to 300 acres but had little to no activity on Tuesday. A much larger fire near Salmon, Idaho has blown up. The Moose Fire south of the Bitterroot grew to 3600 acres and its smoke plume stretched across Montana on Monday. That fire had the largest new acreage burned out of any fire in the entire country. There was much less activity on that fire Tuesday. Wednesday will be sunny and dry with highs in the 80s and low 90s, and a wind up to 20mph in the afternoon. Thursday will be a little warmer with highs in the low to mid 90s, but it does not appear that temperatures will reach record levels anytime soon. A weak area of low pressure will produce a few thunderstorms on Friday, but most of the state will be dry. Highs will be in the 70s and 80s, a little cooler than average. This weekend will be warm and dry with highs in the 80s and 90s. A few more thunderstorms and another cool down are likely for Monday, with highs back down in the 80s. Overall through the end of July and the beginning of August the weather looks very typical, but there will be a few Canadian fronts that could bring showers and below average temperatures at times.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
