Wind will precede cold front

Firefighters in Lake County were bracing for high winds and low humidities preceding a cold front.

The National Weather Service was projecting 20 mph winds from the west with gusts up to 35 mph and 45 mph on ridgetops.

The high winds were expected to potentially stir things up on the 5,260-acre Condon Mountain Fire and three smaller fires burning in the Mission Mountains on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

“Crews and aircraft will be on alert for these extreme weather conditions and the potential for increased fire activity,” a fire update stated Monday.

In the Mission Mountains, the Mollman Fire has grown to 289 acres east of Ronan, the Whitehorse Lake Fire has exceeded 600 acres near the Jocko Lookout and the Schley Creek Fire remains at about 100 acres.

The high winds, which could last through today and Wednesday, will lead the way for a front that is expected to lower temperatures to highs in the 50s to 60s and lows in the 20s and 30s over the next couple of days. 

The front will present a “decent chance” for precipitation in bone-dry Western Montana, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather agency predicted the Flathead Valley has a 60-percent chance of rain tonight and Wednesday.

Missoula was on track to tie a record in going 42 days without measurable precipitation as of today. The last time Missoula went that long without rain was in 1896.

Kalispell also has been dry, with only one day of rain in September (on Sept. 6).

The Flathead Valley’s total precipitation in August and September — 0.74 inches — was the seventh-driest on record for those two months.