BOZEMAN – Wildfire smoke continues to produce unhealthy air quality over most of SW Montana Friday afternoon especially from Helena to Butte to Dillon westward.
The Air Quality Alert also continues heading into the weekend across the entire treasure state. This is re-evaluated every morning.
Temperatures begin to climb Friday and will reach the upper 70s to mid 80s this weekend for most lower valleys in SW Montana. This is 10 to 20 degrees above normal.
Look for increased mountain snowmelt with the increasing temperatures. This could cause many area rivers to rise to minor flood stage by late weekend into early next week. Significant flooding is not anticipated at this time but be extremely careful around all streams and major river systems as they will be running strong and cold.
A shortwave disturbance could bring a change in airflow late weekend. A few isolated showers and thunderstorms could also develop heading into Sunday evening and Monday. Hopefully, we will see some rain out of this and with a SW flow aloft developing that should help improve air quality.
