BOZEMAN – Very little has changed in the last 24 hours and that is one of the greatest concerns with the 3rd heat wave to wrap up the month of June.
Triple digit heat continues to impact the Pacific NW especially the inland NW areas of Washington and Idaho. Rolling blackouts have been reported near Lewiston, ID as the demand for electricity is too high.
This stalled High-pressure system is slowly drifting to the east and is beginning to build over Western Montana. This ridge will reach central Montana by Wednesday with the extreme heat impacting eastern counties by Thursday through Saturday.
There are a wide variety of heat related advisories, watches and warnings across the entire region. This basically means this heat wave is life-threatening. Extreme heat is the number one weather related killer in the U.S. so please take these statements seriously as they are focused on saving lives.
The extreme heat will begin to ease over SW Montana by the weekend but temperatures will remain well above normal through the weekend into next week.
Monsoonal thunderstorms are expected to develop by the weekend and we are hoping for rain but this summertime pattern is difficult to predict as there is always a chance of dry vs wet thunderstorms. Obviously, lightning is also a big concern for possible new fire starts if thunderstorms develop later in the week.
