Smoke Forecast for Friday, August 9, 2024 9:30 AM

August 09 2024

Current Conditions

Clouds and continued cooler air kept Montana’s wildfires under control again on Thursday. Oregon, Washington, and Idaho largely missed out on the cooler air and clouds, so fire behavior in these states has remained active.

The Grouse fire burning in the Pioneer Mountains southwest of Wise River remains the wildfire of greatest concern in the state. It has grown to 3,720 acres with only 5% of the fire contained. The National Weather Service is sending an incident meteorologist to the Grouse fire to help keep fire crews safe.

At 9:00 AM Thursday, Libby, Thompson Falls, Frenchtown, Great Falls, Cut Bank, Helena, Sleeping Giant, Missoula, Hamilton, Seeley Lake, Lewistown, Columbia Falls, Billings, Broadus, West Yellowstone, Miles City, and Bozeman were enduring Moderate air quality.

DEQ’s Today’s Air website is scheduled for maintenance 3pm Friday, August 9^th through Sunday, August 11^th. During this time please find Montana air quality information through the Fire and Smoke Map (airnow.gov)

Friday morning’s satellite shows widespread light smoke covering the western half of Montana.

Source: NOAA

Forecast

A southwesterly flow will bring impulses of energy into Montana and the Northern Rockies on Friday. It will provide chances for showers and thunderstorms, primarily along and south of I-90. The southwest wind will also begin to move smoke from fires burning in Idaho and Oregon into portions of Southwest Montana. Idaho and Oregon have several large wildfires burning, and they largely missed out on the precipitation earlier in the week that fell across Montana.

A stronger system is expected to move across the Treasure State on Saturday. It will bring more widespread precipitation to the area, particularly west of the Continental Divide. A few of the stronger storms will be capable of generating gusty outflow winds, which could produce erratic fire behavior on existing blazes. Another round of showers and storms is expected over the region by Sunday afternoon and evening.

A ridge of high pressure will build over Montana by early next week. It is expected to bring warmer and drier weather to the Northern Rockies. The pattern will allow existing wildfire to expand. It will bring the usual diurnal fluctuations in air quality, with draining and pooling of the smoke at night leading to deteriorating air quality. By afternoon, the atmosphere becomes better mixed, allowing much of the surface smoke to move out as winds increase. However, this ridge won’t be nearly as strong as the prior one, so record heat is unlikely.

By late Saturday, the HRRR smoke model shows smoke from wildfires burning in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon drifting into Southwest Montana.

Source: HRRR Smoke

Conditions can change quickly as weather could stimulate active fires and the likelihood of new starts increases. Please keep track of concentrations at todaysair.mtdeq.us or the Fire and Smoke Map.

Current Wildfires

Current Wildfires
Incident	State	location	acres	containment
Limepoint Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	8 miles NE of Oxbow Dam	26,795	27%
Bulltrout Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	15 miles WNW OF Stanley, ID	271	74%
Wapiti Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	2 miles southwest of Grandjean, ID	1,705	0%
Boulder Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9 Miles southwest of Cascade, Idaho.	1,493	6%
Wolf Creek Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	5 miles west of Donnelly, ID	1,054	46%
Snag Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9.5 miles East of Cascade, Idaho	6,180	0%
Dollar Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	18 mi. NE of Cascade, Idaho	1,233	0%
Cliff Mountain - IDPAF	Idaho	25 Miles East of Joseph, Oregon	1,108	20%
Paddock - IDBOD	Idaho	20 miles north of Emmett, Idaho	153,237	0%
Farrow Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	300	NA
Monumental Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	7	NA
Shepp Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately 30 miles Southwest of Elk City, Idaho	100	NA
Bench Lake Fire - IDSTF	Idaho	8 miles south of Stanley, Idaho	2,595	90%
Anchor Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	About half way between Hanover Mountain and Square Mountain in the Gospel Hump Wilderness	72	NA
Ace Butte Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately 30 miles Southeast of Grangeville, Idaho	64	NA
Wye Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately four and a half miles northwest of Freeman Peak and seven miles northeast of the Moose Creek Airstrip	3,760	NA
Bluff Creek Complex - IDIPF	Idaho	The fires are burning along both sides of the Bluff Ridge, approximately 13 1/2 miles southeast of Avery, ID; five and a half miles west from Gold Creek Campground; and approximately two miles northwest of Junction Ridge.	432	NA
2024 Gwen Fire - IDIDS	Idaho	South of Juliaetta Idaho, about 30 miles outside Lewiston near State Highway 3 in Latah County	28,820	90%
Thunder Fire - IDSCF	Idaho	12 miles south, southwest of Salmon, ID	2,474	90%
Grouse - MTBDF	Montana	Ten miles southwest of Wise River, MT	3,720	5%
Black Mountain - MTHLF	Montana	6 miles northwest of Lincoln. Mont.	182	87%
Miller Peak Fire - MTLNF	Montana	7 miles southeast of Missoula	2,724	86%
Elkhorn Ridge - MTBRF	Montana	West Fork District	500	0%
Johnson Fire - MTBRF	Montana	3 miles west of the Springer Memorial Community in the East Fork on the Bitterroot NF	270	0%
Pentagon Fire - MTFNF	Montana	45 miles SE of Bigfork, MT	62	0%
Muir Creek Fire - MTGNP	Montana	20 miles southeast of West Glacier, MT and east of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River	30	0%
Courtrock Fire - OR95S	Oregon	7.1 Miles south of Monument, OR	20,019	83%
Lone Rock Fire - ORPRD	Oregon	Lonerock stretching to west of HWY 207 and south to HWY 19	137,222	98%
Oakridge Lightning Fires 2024 - ORWIF	Oregon	Willamette Complex fires are to the north and south of Oakridge.	NA	38%
Diamond Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	18 miles southwest of Chemult, Oregon	7,629	11%
Falls Fire - ORMAF	Oregon	20 miles NW of Burns	147,789	77%
Middle Fork Fire - ORCLP	Oregon	Middle Fork area, west of Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park	4,012	0%
North Willamette Complex - ORWIF	Oregon	Willamette National Forest	NA	NA
Red Fire - ORDEF	Oregon	Diamond Peak Wilderness	530	0%
Ore Fire - ORWIF	Oregon	7 Miles NE of Blue River, OR	2,221	29%
Homestead Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	Thirty miles northeast of Glide Oregon	3,384	14%
Battle Mountain Complex - OR97S	Oregon	West and south of Ukiah, OR	182,766	61%
Sandstone Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	9 miles SW of Ripplebrook, OR, on the Mt. Hood National Forest	385	0%
Microwave Tower Fire - OR95S	Oregon	1 mile WSW of Mosier, OR	1,313	95%
Cottage Grove - Lane 1 - OR77S	Oregon	Approximately 16 miles SE of Springfield, OR	15,830	9%
Whisky Creek Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	East fork of Herman Creek, 6 miles SE of Cascade Locks, OR	1,447	0%
Town Gulch - ORWWF	Oregon	Eagle Creek Rd Area, 24 Miles East of Baker City OR, 8 Miles N of Richland, OR	18,500	0%
Porcupine Fire - ORBUD	Oregon	Porcupine Reservoir	6,553	11%
Winding Waters Complex - OR97S	Oregon	23 miles east of Union, OR	752	83%
Telephone Fire - ORMAF	Oregon	16 miles north east of Burns, Oregon	53,487	59%
Crazy Creek - OROCF	Oregon	Crazy Creek:16 miles north of Paulina, OR	78,495	28%
Durkee Fire - ORVAD	Oregon	1 mile west of Durkee, Oregon	294,265	95%
Adam Mountain - ORUPF	Oregon	Approximately 6 miles southeast of Dorena, Oregon	12,645	9%
Badland Complex 2024 - ORVAD	Oregon	Baker County, Oregon	54,563	99%
Cougar Creek Fire - WASES	Washington	1 mile west of Hwy 129 and Grand Ronde river intersection	20,999	35%
Retreat - WASES	Washington	14 miles WSE of Naches, WA	44,588	63%
Pioneer - WASES	Washington	Approximate start 10 miles southeast of Stehekin, WA	36,970	13%
Easy Fire - WAOWF	Washington	North Cascades Hwy 20 Corridor, 17 air miles west of Mazama, WA	1,754	0%
Williams Mine Fire-GPNF - WAGPF	Washington	3.5 miles NNW of Trout Lake WA	4,500	0%
Pincer Two Fire - WAMSF	Washington	Johannesburg Mountain. 1 Mile East of Mineral Park C.G.	115	0%

Source: Inciweb

Tags: Smoke Forecast 2024