Resurgent Fire Season

Hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend. The unofficial end of summer was certainly summery with warm temperatures, dry conditions, increasing smoke and fire activity. Fire season is far from over. This week will be a hot one with periods of wind, and almost no rain. The Trail Creek, Alder Creek and Christensen Fires in southwest Montana have all grown by hundreds of acres over the last few days. These fires will continue to grow and emit smoke as weather will be warm, dry and breezy for the next several days. Most of this week temperatures will remain above average for the state, drying things out even more. Tuesday will be a mostly sunny, warm and dry day. The good news is the wind will be much lighter, generally out of the north and west up to 10mph. Highs will reach the 80s for most of the state. Temperatures will climb into the 80s and low 90s for Wednesday, and the wind will pick up to 15mph out of the southwest. Thursday could be another RED FLAG WARNING day with highs in the 80s and 90s, west wind up to 30mph, and a few isolated thunderstorms. Friday will be slightly cooler with highs in the 70s and low 80s. There will be a few scattered showers and thunderstorms, but not enough rain to seriously help with the fire danger. The warmth will continue into the weekend. Saturday will be mostly sunny with highs in the 70s and 80s. A cold front will drop south out of Canada on Sunday with a few showers that may linger into Monday. There will be a significant temperature drop as highs will cool into the 60s and 70s for Monday. There does not appear to be a soaking rain anytime soon. So please mind the fire danger.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist