Blue skies are quite the treat after a smoky weekend and start to the week! Well, I guess it’s not quite a blue bird day, but there is some blue shining through the layer of haze. Yesterday, the air quality for a large portion of the day was Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Good news is that the GOES 18 satellite imagery shows some stronger westerly to southwesterly winds moving mostly fresher air and clearer skies to Missoula, but there is still some smoke in the air being transported here mainly from fires in Washington, Oregon, and California keeping Missoula area at Moderate air quality.
Scattered air quality sensors on the Fire and Smoke Map from Frenchtown to Missoula are oscillating between Moderate and Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. The air may clear up to Moderate across Missoula County this evening with stronger gusts of wind coming. Although there are strong gusts of wind this evening, the forecast is predicting very calm winds later tonight until early afternoon tomorrow. This means a couple things. One, people closest to the Butler Creek Fire and the Miller Peak Fire will likely still see smoke traveling down drainages and pooling in low areas and valleys. And two, that smoke pooled in the valley might stick around longer, especially if an inversion sets up, restricting air movement and the mixing of surface level air into the upper atmosphere. Once the wind picks up in the afternoon, any inversion set up should break.
Thursday there will be strong gusts of wind in the afternoon that will help clear out the area of smoke (if the wind is clear of smoke) but can make fighting wildfires a lot more difficult. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for tomorrow due to the combination of low humidity, likelihood of thunderstorms, and strong gusts of wind. To prevent further wildfires, there are currently Stage II Restrictions across Missoula County which means no recreational fires, no outdoor burning, hoot owl restrictions on gas powered equipment and more. Review the full list at MTfireinfo.org and recreate responsibly.
Those high temperatures are not only concerning for more wildfire starts, but they are really hard on our health – there is currently a Heat Advisory issued by the National Weather Service from now until Thursday night. Heat is immediately dangerous and causes heat stress and heat related illnesses. When battling heat and smoke, address heat first and then smoke. Stay hydrated and take breaks inside places with cooled and filtered air. If you need to cool your home, open your windows at night and run your air cleaner, ideally in the room you sleep in. Visit Montanawildfiresmoke.org for more information on cleaning your indoor air and how smoke effects your health and check out past air quality updates.
Mushu, your local air quality, encourages everyone to check the air monitors before getting outside and to take advantage of any break from smoke we get! One of her favorite activities is bolting out the door to go eat grass; yours might be a trail run or a lap around the block. Whatever it may be, inside or out, remember that smoke affects everyone differently so watch out for each other and breathe safe!