BOZEMAN – Cooler today with a slight improvement in wildfire smoke for SW Montana. Yesterday’s cold front is stalling over eastern Montana and a new upper-level trough is digging into the Pacific NW. This will continue to produce slightly cooler than normal temperatures through the end of the week.
Wildfire smoke remains the more irritating weather pattern. The smoke is slightly better compared to yesterday, but low-level haze remains. Air quality conditions have been mostly in the moderate range today.
An air quality alert has been extended into Thursday morning for Beaverhead, Madison, Gallatin and Park Counties locally with the thickest smoke along the MT/ID/WY state lines.
Although a trough is digging into the region for several days the Low-pressure system is well north of Montana centered over Alberta, Canada.
I am also watching a large plume of monsoonal moisture over the southern and central Rockies lifting to the northeast but that appears to remain mostly east of Montana for the rest of the week.
Labor Day Weekend is looking fantastic for SW Montana. Mostly dry and warm. Temperatures could be back up into the upper 70s to mid-80s this weekend, but morning lows will be chilly at higher elevations.
