That's more like it. Summer is officially winding down and it appears that fire season and smoke are clearing up. Montana had it's best air quality in several weeks on Monday. Cooler temperatures and a series of rainy days have slowed the fires across Montana, the northern Rockies and the West. A new, slow moving storm over California is helping to extinguish fires there as well. This storm will move northeast over the next few days, ultimately bringing widespread precipitation across the northern Rockies and Montana by late Wednesday through Thursday and the first day of autumn. This storm will bring us even closer to the end of fire season. But first, a cold front is moving through the state on Monday night into Tuesday morning. There is not a lot of precipitation, but there is a significant cool down. Tuesday will be a mostly cloudy day with highs in the 40s and 50s. There will be a few light showers, and also some gradual clearing of the clouds into the evening. Tuesday night will be chilly with a possible frost or freeze in many locations. Wednesday will be partly cloudy and a few showers will increase over the southwestern corner by later in the day. This is the next storm that will spread rain across most of the state Wednesday night and Thursday. Thursday will be cool and cloudy again with periods of rain and higher elevation snow. That storm will move out by Friday morning, leaving behind windy conditions and highs around 70. A weak system will spread a few showers around with partly cloudy skies on Saturday. Highs will be in the 60s and 70s. A bit of a warmup is likely for Sunday into early next week, with temperatures topping out in the 70s and even a few 80s.
Have a great day.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
