Smoke clears for parts of Montana, though may be short-lived

While two-thirds of Montana is getting a bit of relief from wildfire smoke, conditions in the western portion likely will continue to be smoky, according to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

By Monday afternoon, smoke had cleared out of much of the central portion of the state, with Great Falls, Helena and Havre all seeing clear air. Billings, Bozeman and Butte were still dealing with moderate air quality impacts on Monday, as were Glendive and Glasgow.

Missoula and much of the Bitterroot and Flathead valleys were dealing with significant smoke impacts, with air quality scores reaching toward and above 200 in “unhealthy” or into the red, on Sunday night.

“Behind a cool front, a northerly flow will keep much of the heavy smoke out of central, northern, and eastern Montana on Monday,” a Monday DEQ smoke update said. “However, the same cannot be said for the western third of the state, where heavy smoke will remain a concern.”

Temperatures are also expected to begin a climb back up after a brief reprieve for the state on Sunday and Monday.

Lincoln, Flathead, Lake, Sanders, Mineral, Ravalli, Missoula, Beaverhead, Deer Lodge, Granite, and Silver Bow Counties were under an air quality alert on Monday into Tuesday.

According to the DEQ, those alerts are issued when the 24-hour cumulative air quality gets into the unhealthy for sensitive groups category, or when 24-hour cumulative air quality is likely to move into that part of the air quality scale.

Matt Ludwig, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Great Falls said they were keeping an eye on temperatures and humidity — both important parts of fire weather — for Friday and Saturday.

Much of the state was under a red-flag warning throughout the weekend, which means that a variety of factors have combined to make dangerous fire conditions more likely.

“We’re keeping an eye on the possibility of these low humidity conditions plus maybe some increased wind speeds, so we’re at least looking at an elevated chance for fire weather conditions through most of the week,” Ludwig said.

Smoke from regional wildfires, including intense blazes in and around Spokane, will move back into the state during the week, the DEQ update stated. It also ended on a hopeful note, saying moisture could be returning to Montana in the near future.

“This moisture could help to ease fire behavior and reduce smoke production. However, this pattern shift to our weather is likely more than a week away,” the update says. “In the meantime, expect surface smoke from regional and local wildfires to impact air quality for the foreseeable future.”

Almost a dozen large fires were burning throughout Montana on Monday, though only one was estimated at more than 2,000 acres. The 6,029-acre Silvertip Fire, currently the state’s largest by size, is burning in a remote part of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The fire is 0% contained, but access has been a challenge, a situation report for the fire said. 

The Elder 1 fire, burning near Frenchtown, was reportedly at 40% containment on Monday after firefighters were able to make significant progress on the fire late last week and during the weekend. No structures have been reported lost in that blaze, which had 319 personnel assigned to the fire and six helicopters working it Monday. 

The National Interagency Fire Center estimates the fire has cost $6.4 million to fight.

Evacuations were ordered in the Good Creek/Alder Creek area on the Skillet Fire, which is burning 15 miles west of Olney, near Stillwater Lake. The fire is near a 2023 burn area and a larger team took over command on Monday.

Access to the area is difficult and dangerous due to fallen trees from the December storms that caused damage and flooding in large swaths of northwestern Montana.

“Crews and equipment will engage the fire where the risk to responders is low, and the probability of success is high,” a Monday update from the Skillet Fire states.

Fire crews were also battling a fire in the Little Belt Mountains near Showdown Mountain Ski Resort. The Ant Park Fire is burning about seven miles from the resort.

Two fires in Beaverhead County — the Bobcat Lakes Fire and the Sand Creek Fire — were both threatening structures in the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest.

The Bobcat Lakes fire was estimated at 1,560 acres and the Sand Creek Fire was listed at 1,003 acres.