Smoke Forecast for Monday, August 26, 2024 10:00 AM

August 26 2024

Current Conditions

There are still numerous active wildfires burning in the mountains of Central Idaho. These fires are responsible for the smoke across much of Montana to start the week. The Snag fire grew considerably over the weekend. The fire is burning just south of McCall, Idaho and has already burned over 25,000 acres. The Nellie and Wapiti fires continue to produce a lot of smoke over the Northern Rockies as well. The Nellie fire has burned around 38,000 acres and is 5% contained. The Wapiti fire has burned around 68,000 acres and is 0% contained.

The two most important wildfires in Montana, in terms of resources being used to fight them, are the Sharrott Creek and Ratio Mountain fires. The Sharrott Creek blaze is burning just west of Stevensville, Montana in the Bitterroot Mountains. It has grown to over 1,000 acres with 0% containment. The Ratio Mountain fire is burning east of Butte, Montana has burned almost 500 acres and is 9% contained.

The Remington fire started in Wyoming last week. It is burning in mainly grassland and scrubland. The fire quickly expanded north into Montana over the weekend and has now burned nearly 200,000 acres.

At 9:00 AM Monday, Billings and Broadus were enduring Moderate air quality.

Monday morning’s satellite shows some light smoke across Montana, much of which is aloft, from fires burning in Central Idaho.

Source: NOAA

Forecast

A light westerly flow will set up over Montana to start the week. It will spread some smoke from wildfires burning in Idaho into the region. There are still numerous large, active wildfires burning across the mountains of Central Idaho. These fires will be a concern for Montana’s air quality for the foreseeable future.

A cold front will push across the area by late Tuesday. A westerly flow will ramp up as the day goes on, with wind gusts over 40 miles per hour possible. This will generate more active fire behavior on existing blazes and will lead to an increase in smoke production. Unfortunately, the front will be dry so the biggest impact will be from wind and cooler air. In fact, the coolest air of the season will follow the front and patchy frost is possible by Thursday morning.

High pressure builds over the Northern Rockies by the end of the week and into the weekend. The warmer air, lower humidity, and gusty winds should lead to an increase in fire activity. The southerly and southwesterly flow will bring additional smoke from the fire burning in Central Idaho into the Treasure State. Stay tuned!

By midday Tuesday, the HRRR smoke model shows smoke moving into Montana from wildfires burning in Idaho and Wyoming.

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
Middle Fork Complex Fire: Bulldog, Nellie, Anderson - IDBOF	Idaho	9 miles east of Garden Valley, ID	46,994	5%
2024 Flat - IDIDS	Idaho	One mile east of Pioneerville, Idaho	3,734	61%
Dollar Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	18 miles NE of Cascade, Idaho	2,665	0%
Wolf Creek Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	11 Miles NW of Cascade, ID	1,154	95%
Snag Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9.5 miles East of Cascade, Idaho	25,235	3%
Boulder Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9 Miles southwest of Cascade, Idaho.	2,313	44%
Goat Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	11 miles SE of Cascade, Idaho	1,963	0%
Wapiti Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	2 miles southwest of Grandjean, ID	68,457	0%
Burnt Creek Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	400	NA
Farrow Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	852	NA
Parks Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	1,000	NA
Cracker Jack Complex - IDNCF	Idaho	All four fires are located within half a mile of each other: two and a half miles east of Concord, ID, less than a quarter acre east from Square Lake and less than a quarter acre west from Fish Lake.	702	NA
Surprise Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Three and one-half miles NE of Hunter Peak, Fifteen miles NW of Darby, MT in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness	20	NA
Limepoint Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	8 miles NE of Oxbow Dam	32,600	88%
Bulltrout Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	15 miles WNW OF Stanley, ID	271	92%
Wye Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately four and a half miles northwest of Freeman Peak and seven miles northeast of the Moose Creek Airstrip	5,815	NA
Monumental Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	NA	11	NA
Anchor Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	About half way between Hanover Mountain and Square Mountain in the Gospel Hump Wilderness	135	NA
Ace Butte Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately 30 miles Southeast of Grangeville, Idaho	152	NA
Robbin Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Within Game Unit 12: located less than six and a half miles southwest of Powell Ranger Station and less than three and a half miles south of Wendover Campground	NA	NA
Grave Butte Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Within Game Unit 12: located ten miles west of Jerry Johnson Campground and about half a mile from National Forest Service Road #107 (Saddle Camp Road)	10	NA
Boulder Creek Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Within Game Unit 12: located ten miles north of the Powell Ranger Station and 12 miles west of Lolo Hot Springs	25	NA
Bench Lake Fire - IDSTF	Idaho	8 miles south of Stanley, Idaho	2,595	90%
Big Hollow Fire - MTMTS	Montana	36 miles southwest of Dillon, MT	3,414	40%
Ratio Mountain - MTBDF	Montana	15 miles northwest of Whitehall, MT.	451	NA
McElwain Fire - MTMTS	Montana	6 miles west of Helmville, MT	176	0%
Remington Fire - MTGNF	Montana	20 miles NE of Leiter, WY, multiple counties in southeast Montana.	184,127	0%
Grouse - MTBDF	Montana	Ten miles southwest of Wise River, MT	4,200	22%
Elkhorn Ridge - MTBRF	Montana	West Fork District	2,482	0%
Pentagon Fire - MTFNF	Montana	45 miles SE of Bigfork, MT	62	0%
Johnson Fire - MTBRF	Montana	3 miles west of the Springer Memorial Community in the East Fork on the Bitterroot NF	270	0%
North Willamette Complex - ORWIF	Oregon	Willamette National Forest	4,457	NA
Red Fire - ORDEF	Oregon	Diamond Peak Wilderness, 16 miles west, north-west of Crescent Oregon.	753	0%
Diamond Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	18 miles southwest of Chemult, Oregon	11,152	68%
Willamette Complex Fires - South - ORWIF	Oregon	Willamette Complex South fires are 8 miles north and 8 to 22 miles S-SE of Oakridge.	13,064	NA
Middle Fork Fire - ORCLP	Oregon	Crater Lake National Park; Middle Fork area	5,280	2%
Sandstone Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	9 miles SW of Ripplebrook, OR, on the Mt. Hood National Forest	702	37%
Whisky Creek Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	East fork of Herman Creek, 6 miles SE of Cascade Locks, OR	2,067	24%
Homestead Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	Thirty miles northeast of Glide Oregon	5,898	47%
Crazy Creek - OROCF	Oregon	Crazy Creek:16 miles north of Paulina, OR	86,963	93%
Cottage Grove - Lane 1 - OR77S	Oregon	Approximately 16 miles SE of Springfield, OR	25,265	90%
Dixon Fire - ORUPF	Oregon	Tiller, Oregon	1,970	87%
Battle Mountain Complex - OR97S	Oregon	West and south of Ukiah, OR	183,026	94%
Warner Peak Fire - ORSHR	Oregon	3 miles East of Plush, on the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge	65,866	85%
Pioneer - WASES	Washington	Approximate start 10 miles southeast of Stehekin, WA	38,735	23%
Williams Mine Fire-GPNF - WAGPF	Washington	3.5 miles NNW of Trout Lake WA	11,776	29%
Upper Ruby - WACOF	Washington	Ruby Creek Drainage - approximately 16 miles northwest of Cusick, WA	285	16%
2620 Road Fire - WAOLC	Washington	The fire is located 5 miles West of Brinnon Washington.	403	73%
Pincer Two Fire - WAMSF	Washington	Johannesburg Mountain. 1 Mile East of Mineral Park Campground	189	0%
Ruby Fire - WANCP	Washington	On Ruby Mountain in North Cascade National Park by Diablo and Ross Lake, 9 miles East of Newhalem	955	0%
Easy Fire - WAOWF	Washington	North Cascades Hwy 20 Corridor, 17 air miles west of Mazama, WA	2,130	36%
Six Mile - WACOA	Washington	Two miles east of Nine Mile Hellgate Road, near the head of Cottonwood Creek	113	90%
Stranger Creek II - WACOA	Washington	NA	66	90%
Wicked Drive - WANEC	Washington	Tum Tum, Washington	698	65%
Lodgepole - WAOWF	Washington	16 miles west of Cliffdell, WA	35	6%
Retreat - WASES	Washington	14 miles WSE of Naches, WA	45,601	85%
Cougar Creek Fire - WASES	Washington	1 mile west of Hwy 129 and Grand Ronde river intersection	24,091	80%
House Draw Fire - WYHPD	Wyoming	40 Mile SE of Gillette	174,448	88%
Clearwater - WYSHF	Wyoming	11 Miles West of Wapiti, Wyoming	1,966	75%
Fish Creek Fire - WYBTF	Wyoming, United States	Approximately 7 miles southwest of Togwotee Pass	11,278	NA
Leeds Creek - WYBTF	Wyoming, United States	16 Miles Southwest of Dubois, WY	780	75%

Source: Inciweb

Tags: Smoke Forecast 2024