The current air quality across Missoula County is Good to Moderate.
Numerous wildfires continue to burn in Oregon and Washington. Some of the most significant include the Rowe Creek Complex, the Hay Creek Complex, and the Kaiser Canyon Fire. Smoke from these wildfires arrived in Missoula County on Saturday night into Sunday morning. The air quality reached Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups in isolated areas, but most areas stayed at Moderate.
The plume of smoke from Oregon and Washington will continue to impact us through this evening and air quality may worsen again later this afternoon. Easterly winds tonight could help with some clearing.
Outside of thunderstorms, winds are forecasted to remain light on Tuesday and Wednesday. That will help prevent a majority of the smoke from Oregon and Washington from streaming directly into our area. However, some smoke will likely still make it over to us throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, and the smoke that’s already here is likely to linger. So, we can expect some smoke this week with air quality oscillating between Good, Moderate, and Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, but it doesn’t look like it will be too thick.
Check Fire.AirNow.Gov often for the most up to date levels of smoke and particulate matter in the air. To have it handy on your phone, download the EPA AIRNow app. I find the map tab at the bottom to be the most helpful.
To reduce your smoke exposure, be cognizant of the amount of time you spend outside and the intensity of those activities. If needed, seek respite from smoke somewhere with clean indoor air; learn about cleaning your indoor air at MontanaWildfireSmoke.org.
If you don’t already know about the Air Quality Index or the AQI, take a minute to learn which colors you should watch for to start taking action to reduce your smoke exposure. This will be different for everyone as smoke affects people in various ways. A Yellow AQI means air quality is Moderate. When air quality is Moderate, the risk of health impacts is most concerning for those unusually sensitive to air pollution but it can impact everyone. The Orange AQI means air quality is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups which includes all children under the age of 18, older adults, those with respiratory or cardiovascular diseases, and more. A Red AQI means air quality is Unhealthy for Everyone! As the AQI colors get darker, air quality worsens, and the health impacts greatly increase for everyone.