Montana Wildfires, Smoke, And Heat Records Across The State

Fire season finally arrives in Montana, and while we're still not seeing the major blazes that our surrounding states are dealing with, smoke is turning into a big issue. And a rash of smaller fires over the weekend shows how quickly our conditions are drying out.

Fire crews from Montana DNRC to the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and certainly local fire departments, were kept scrambling to fire reports over the weekend, especially on Saturday, as temperatures spiked to triple digits on both sides of the Divide, and gusty, hot, dry winds and low humidity gave us our worst "fire weather" of the summer.

Montana DNRC reported 18 new fires Sunday alone.

Major fires include the 350-acre Moffit Dam Fire, burning in open country south of Miles City, the 60-acre Drag Creek Fire east of Lewistown, and the 179-acre Buffalo Ranch 2 fire northeast of Wolf Point and the 100-acre Twin Sisters Fire in the Judith Basin.

West of the Divide, a number of higher elevation fires started from last week's thunderstorms. The Moose Fire in Granite County had burned 60 acres southwest of Philipsburg, the North Fork Lost Horse Fire, which had burned 105 acres southwest of Darby according to maps last night, and the Elder 1 Fire burning on the Lolo National Forest near Missoula, which had scorched over 300 acres and was a major smoke producer for Missoula and the Bitterroot.

The Silvertip Fire has burned nearly 400 acres by this morning in the Bob Marshall backcountry.

The Advent Creek Fire had burned over 30 acres west of Olney in Flathead County, and there were multiple smaller fires in Western Montana as well.

The only current red flag warnings are in Eastern Idaho in the Lemhi country.

Fire danger is expected to remain high all week, with temperatures, especially east of the Divide, remaining hot, with gusty winds at times and low humidity.

Air quality suffers

And an air quality alert remains in place this morning for a wide swath of the state, extending from the Bitterroot and Missoula on the west, to Helena, locations on the Rocky Mountain Front, east to Fort Benton and Havre.

Some locations are seeing air that's "unhealthy for sensitive groups," so keep a watch on your local conditions.

Smoke is forecast to be a problem all week long, much of it coming from Oregon, where more than 300, 000 acres are burning.

The other weather factor we'll be watching is the risk of scattered showers and thunderstorms, and since there's not a lot of monsoonal moisture, those could be dry lightning storms, which will also contribute to the fire risk.

More record heat, but a little cooler this week

It was another scorcher, especially east of the Divide, and on the High Plains Saturday.

Great Falls Meteorologist Eric Johnson reported Fort Benton, Sidney, Glendive, and Miles City all hit 108 degrees. Fort Belknap was 106. Havre, Wolf Point, and Malta were 104, with many locations baking at 102 degrees, including Helena, Billings, and Glasgow. Great Falls, Livingston, and Missoula all hit 100, the first 100-degree temperatures of the year in the Garden City.