BOZEMAN – Wildfire smoke continues to be the greatest hazard across SW Montana today and likely to see “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” air quality ratings into Wednesday.
Most of the smoke comes from wildfires in Idaho and Oregon and western Montana.
A small but potent Pacific storm system is currently off the Washington State coast and should begin to move into the pacific NW Wednesday and sit over SW Montana Thursday.
This will bring scattered showers and thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon with some storms capable of producing strong wind gusts and small to large size hail along with frequent lightning strikes. However, these thunderstorms should also produce areas of moderate to heavy rain.
As the Low-pressures system spins over SW Montana Thursday look for more widespread showers and a few thunderstorms and much cooler temperatures. High mountain snow is also possible Thursday into Friday morning.
A quarter of an inch up to an inch of moisture is possible with this storm system Wednesday through Friday morning. This hopefully will also bring improved air quality.
