Smoke Forecast for Wednesday, July 31, 2024 10:00 AM

July 31 2024

Current Conditions

The area of low pressure that brough rain to the Northern Rockies and Montana on Tuesday has moved east of the state. It helped to scour out much of the smoke from regional wildfires, leaving Montana with better air quality.

The rain that fell on Tuesday helped to reduce smoke production on existing wildfires. As much as an inch of rain fell in the Bitterroot Mountains where numerous wildfires continue to burn. The Wye fire just west of Hamilton is 0% contained and has grown to over 7,000 acres. The Thunder fire south of Salmon, Idaho is around 2,500 acres and is 34% contained.

At 9:00 AM Wednesday, Great Falls, Miles City, Glendive, Sidney, and Broadus were enduring Moderate air quality.

Wednesday morning’s satellite shows smoke-free skies over Western Montana, with abundant smoke to the south.

Source: NOAA

Forecast

The area of low pressure responsible for Tuesday’s rain is slowly moving away from the Northern Rockies. The storm produced as much as an inch of rain over the higher terrain of Montana and Idaho, temporarily reducing smoke production.

A ridge of high pressure builds over the region Wednesday and will remain a theme into the weekend. The ridge will bring another round of unseasonably warm temperatures back to the state. The combination of drying fuels, low humidity, and warm temperatures will lead to increased fire behavior on existing blazes. As a result, smoke production will increase on many of the regional wildfires, eventually leading to degrading air quality in Montana.

By late Saturday and Sunday, monsoonal moisture will move into the Treasure State. Some forecast models want to keep this moisture around into early next week. This moisture will increase our chances for rain and scattered thunderstorms. If verified, the pattern will also help to ease fire behavior on existing wildfire and reduce smoke production for the Northern Rockies.

By Thursday afternoon, the HRRR smoke model shows much of the heaviest smoke concentrations remaining south of 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	17,908	0%
Wolf Creek Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	5 miles west of Donnelly, ID	750	0%
Bench Lake Fire - IDSTF	Idaho	8 miles south of Stanley, Idaho	2,595	85%
Cliff Mountain - IDPAF	Idaho	25 Miles East of Joseph, Oregon	1,101	0%
Boulder Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	9 Miles southwest of Cascade, Idaho.	325	0%
Wapiti Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	2 miles southwest of Grandjean	50	NA
Bulltrout Fire - IDBOF	Idaho	Southwest of Bull Trout Lake	100	0%
2024 Gwen Fire - IDIDS	Idaho	South of Juliaetta Idaho, about 30 miles outside Lewiston near State Highway 3 in Latah County	28,805	34%
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.	573	NA
Oxbow Fire - IDPAF	Idaho	Near Oxbow dam in Hells Canyon	6,000	NA
Anchor - IDNCF	Idaho	About half way between Hanover Mountain and Square Mountain in the Gospel Hump Wilderness	50	NA
Shepp - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately 30 miles Southwest of Elk City, Idaho	75	NA
Ace Butte - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately 30 miles Southeast of Grangeville, Idaho	75	NA
Wye Fire - IDNCF	Idaho	Approximately four and a half miles northwest of Freeman Peak and seven miles northeast of the Moose Creek Airstrip	3,500	NA
Texas Fire - IDIDS	Idaho	Two miles East of Kendrick, ID	1,582	90%
Thunder Fire - IDSCF	Idaho, United States	12 miles south, southwest of Salmon, ID	2,474	34%
Miller Peak Fire - MTLNF	Montana	7 miles southeast of Missoula	2,724	65%
Black Mountain - MTHLF	Montana	6 miles northwest of Lincoln. Mont.	65	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%
Blacktail Canyon - MTBDF	Montana	4 miles southeast of Butte, MT	80	95%
Butler Creek Fire - MTMTS	Montana	5 miles northwest of Missoula	284	100%
Courtrock Fire - OR95S	Oregon	7.1 Miles S. of Monument, Oregon	19,834	37%
Adam Mountain - ORUPF	Oregon	Approximately 6 miles southeast of Dorena, Oregon	8,027	7%
Durkee Fire - ORVAD	Oregon	1 mile west of Durkee, Oregon	293,882	52%
Whisky Creek Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	East fork of Herman Creek, 6 miles SE of Cascade Locks, OR	891	0%
Battle Mountain Complex - OR97S	Oregon	West and south of Ukiah, OR	178,171	14%
Winding Waters Complex - OR97S	Oregon	23 miles east of Union, OR	752	5%
Homestead Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	Thirty miles northeast of Glide Oregon	1,636	5%
Badland Complex 2024 - ORVAD	Oregon	Baker County, Oregon	54,615	65%
Red Fire - ORDEF	Oregon	Diamond Peak Wilderness	428	0%
Ore Fire - ORWIF	Oregon	7 Miles NE of Blue River, OR	1,452	29%
Microwave Tower Fire - OR95S	Oregon	5 miles WSW of Mosier, OR	1,306	53%
Middle Fork Fire - ORCLP	Oregon	Middle Fork area, west of Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park	728	1%
Diamond Complex - ORUPF	Oregon	18 miles southwest of Chemult, Oregon	5,188	9%
Boulder Fire - ORMHF	Oregon	Approximately 26 miles SW of Dufur, OR.	233	100%
Lone Rock Fire - ORPRD	Oregon	Lone Rock OR stretching to west of HWY 207 and south to HWY 19	137,221	80%
Mineral - ORUPF	Oregon	Approximately 7 miles southeast of Dorena, Oregon	1,201	0%
Quartz - ORUPF	Oregon	10 miles SSE Dorena, OR	974	0%
Jack Saddle - ORUPF	Oregon	Approximately 10 miles SSE of Dorena, Oregon	1,248	0%
Puddin - ORUPF	Oregon	Approximately 13 miles southeast of Dorena, OR	392	0%
Cottage Grove - Lane 1 - OR77S	Oregon	Approximately 16 miles SE of Springfield, OR	1,932	0%
Clark 900 - OR770S	Oregon	37 miles northeast of Roseburg, OR	3,747	0%
Falls Fire - ORMAF	Oregon	20 miles NW of Burns	142,307	69%
Telephone Fire - ORMAF	Oregon	16 miles north east of Burns, Oregon	31,721	0%
Crazy Creek - OROCF	Oregon	Crazy Creek:16 miles north of Paulina, OR	21,937	0%
Cow Valley Fire - ORVAD	Oregon	West of Brogan and Northwest of Vale	133,490	99%
South Columbia Basin - WANES	Washington	9.5 Miles WSW of Cheney, WA	252	85%
Big Horn Fire - WASES	Washington	7 miles SE of Bickleton Washington, and 7 miles N of Roosevelt, Washington	51,569	100%
Retreat - WASES	Washington	14 miles southwest of Naches, WA	29,203	18%
Easy Fire - WAOWF	Washington	North Cascades Hwy 20 Corridor, 17 air miles west of Mazama, WA	528	0%
Cougar Creek Fire - WASES	Washington	1 mile west of Hwy 129 and Grand Ronde river intersection	17,602	29%
Pioneer - WASES	Washington	Approximate start 10 miles southeast of Stehekin, WA	33,276	15%
Swawilla Fire - WACOA	Washington	North of Columbia River, East of Swawilla Basin, West of Hwy 21	47,190	45%
Bridge Creek - WACOA	Washington	North of Bridge Creek, East of Elbow River	3,950	43%
Lower Granite Fire - WANES	Washington	Northeast of Pomeroy, WA	14,482	0%
Pincer Two Fire - WAMSF	Washington	Johanasburg Mountain. 1 Mile East of Mineral Park C.G.	102	0%
Black Canyon - WASES	Washington	10 Miles NW, Naches, WA	9,211	89%

Source: Inciweb

Tags: Smoke Forecast 2024