It’s the middle of July and the wildfire season has yet to really take off. There have been numerous small fires, but that’s it – small wildfires. Conditions will develop over the next few days that will raise the fire danger to levels Montana has not experienced yet this year. The combination of lower humidity around 20% and gusty wind up over 40mph would allow a wildfire to spread quickly. Please use extreme caution over the next few days. If a fire is to start, it likely would be human-caused as thunderstorms and lightning strikes have all but disappeared from the state. Thursday will be a mostly sunny, dry and windy day. Besides the fire danger and the wind, what a lovely summer day with highs in the 70s. There will be a couple showers up on the Continental Divide and west of the Divide. Friday will be mostly sunny, windy and dry again. Just an isolated thunderstorm is possible. With the wind, fire danger will be high once again. This weekend will be beautiful. Wind will be easing up through Saturday, with mostly sunny skies. An isolated thunderstorm is possible across the Hi-Line. Highs will only be in the 60s and 70s. Overnight lows will dip into the 30s and 40s. Sunday will be a sunny day with light wind, and highs will warm into the 70s and 80s. A big warming trend is coming early next week with temperatures likely topping out in the 90s. Isolated thunderstorms will slowing increase in numbers from Monday to Wednesday.
Have a great day.
Curtis Grevenitz
