Happy August! The dog days of summer are here and wildfires continue to grow in western Montana, but an usually wet and cool stretch for August should help. Smoke from wildfires in western Montana and Idaho should be expected over the next several days. Changes will take a few days but there is some hope as cooler, wetter weather will increase across Montana and Idaho giving firefighters a hand. Wednesday will have increasing clouds and most of Montana will turn mostly cloudy by afternoon. A few isolated thunderstorms are possible across southwest Montana to as far north as about Helena in the afternoon. The clouds will start to cool temperatures down, highs will be in the 80s and 90s. Thursday will be partly cloudy, generally dry, and temperatures will be close to average in the 80s to around 90. A big area of rain and thunderstorms will move into the state on Friday with highs in the 70s and 80s. Areas of rain will continue across Montana and Idaho through Friday night and Saturday. Saturday will be a cool summer day with highs in the 60s and 70s and the rain and thunderstorms will continue to be widespread. Sunday could be more of a steady light rain with highs in the 60s and 70s. Scattered showers, storms and cooler than normal temperatures will continue through most of next week. Widespread rain should fall on fires in western Montana and Idaho.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
