Air Pollution

You may have noticed what looked like small snowflakes drifting down from the sky in western Montana on Monday, but they were actually bits of ash that traveled from California, Washington and Oregon fires all the way to the Missoula valley.

As happy as Missoulians were to see the rain showers in western Montana, health department officials are saying the smoke problems will persist till further notice.

Missoula City County Health Department officials met with residents of Seeley Lake on Thursday night and recommended with the strongest language possible how important it was to evacuate due to historically toxic wildfire smoke.

Air quality specialists are frustrated year after year when the American Lung Association names Missoula as one of the worst cities in America for small particle pollution, making the air unhealthy for certain populations.

The Environment Montana Research and Policy Center has released a city-by-city report on air pollution in Montana.

As of 9:00 a.m. Saturday, the Missoula City-County Health Department has declared a Stage Two Air Pollution Alert.

President Obama's emotional speech announcing proposed executive actions on gun control have had the opposite effect, with gun sales through a Missoula dealer mushrooming online.

Air pollution in the Missoula area has worsened to the point where the City County Health Department has increased the alert level from Stage One to Stage Two.

An inversion that has been trapping stagnant air in the Missoula valley for the last several days has triggered a Stage One Air Alert.

As of 3 p.m. on Monday, Missoula is in a Stage One Air Pollution Alert, according to the Missoula City County Health Department.