Smoke Forecast for Monday, July 15, 2024 9:30 AM
Current Conditions
Air quality in Northern Montana has improved compared to last week thanks to Canadian wildfire smoke being pushed to the East. However, light smoke from fires in Oregon is affecting air quality in Southern Montana leading to moderate air quality at several monitors. The heaviest smoke impacts are east and southeast of Helena; this smoke is largely due to the 12,000-acre Horse Gulch Fire that continues to burn near Canyon Ferry. Further air quality information regarding the Horse Gulch Fire can be found here.
Forecast
Light smoke will persist across Southern Montana throughout Monday. This morning, southwesterly winds will push smoke from fires in Oregon into Southwest Montana before northwesterly transport winds will take over in the afternoon. This should cause smoke concentrations to diminish in the Southern half of Montana, but smoke from wildfires in Washington may return to Northwest Montana around Libby by evening.
Transport winds will be lighter over the next couple of days but expect these general trends to continue.
Due to a persistent atmospheric ridge, temperatures will remain high today and throughout the week with daily highs above 100 in many places across Montana. High temperatures and low relative humidity (<15%) will continue to contribute to potential fire risk in Montana and the rest of the West.
By Monday evening, the HRRR smoke model shows much of the smoke from regional wildfires pushing out of the state.
Source: HRRR Smoke
Current Wildfires
|
Incident |
State |
location |
acres |
containment |
|
Falls Fire - ORMAF |
Oregon |
20 miles NW of Burns |
64,225 |
0% |
|
Bench Lake Fire - IDSTF |
Idaho |
8 miles south of Stanley, Idaho |
738 |
0% |
|
Horse Gulch Fire - MTHLF |
Montana |
5 miles south of York |
12,797 |
0% |
|
Miller Peak Fire - MTLNF |
Montana |
8 miles southeast of Missoula |
400 |
NA |
|
Cow Valley Fire - ORVAD |
Oregon |
9 miles east of Ironside, Ore. |
132,528 |
0% |
|
Larch Creek Fire - OR95S |
Oregon |
Friend, OR, a rural community |
18,486 |
10% |
|
Pioneer - WASES |
Washington |
10 miles southeast of Stehekin, WA |
15,757 |
14% |
|
Salt Creek - OR710S |
Oregon |
5 miles SSW of Butte Falls, Oregon |
4,081 |
41% |
Source: Inciweb
This morning, air quality for Billings, Bozeman, Broadus, Butte, Dillon, Frenchtown, Helena, Libby, and Missoula is moderate.
Source: HRRR Smoke
Tags: Smoke Forecast 2024