It's the next to last full weekend of summer with heat and wildfire smoke becoming widespread across Montana. Air quality was "unhealthy" in the Bitterroot on Friday and that smoke will be spreading east through the weekend. Saturday will be warm and sunny with highs in the 80s and 90s under sunny but hazy skies. Smoke will slowly increase from west to east. There will be a light east wind. Sunday the upper level flow will switch around to the southwest pushing wildfire smoke across Big Sky. A few isolated thunderstorms will pop over the western mountains, including around Helena. Highs will be hot in the 90s. Monday will be a breezy, hot and dry day with highs in the 80s and 90s. Smoke could be thick and air quality could be poor. Changes begin on Tuesday with a cold front dropping south out of Canada. A few isolated thunderstorms are possible and highs will start cooling off, only reaching the 80s. A storm system will move in from the Pacific on Wednesday with scattered showers and thunderstorms, and cooler highs in the 70s. Widespread showers are possible on Thursday with cooler temperatures in the 60s, and the chance at higher elevation snow. This storm should bring rain and cooler temperatures to Oregon, Idaho and southwest Montana where a lot of the smoke is coming from.
Enjoy the weekend,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
