Fires continue to foul Flathead air
<p><strong>This image</strong> taken with the Suomi NPP satellite's VIIRS instrument on Wednesday afternoon and released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows vast smoke plumes from wildfires burning in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. (NOAA via AP)</p>
Smoke continued to pour into the Flathead Valley on Friday, prompting a continuation of an air-quality alert from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
The smoke is being pushed into the area by winds blowing in from wildland fires in Washington, Idaho and Montana’s Kootenai National Forest. Kristen Martin, a state air quality meteorologist, said a particularly dense plume is coming from fires raging in Washington.
Air quality on Friday was “very unhealthy” in the Flathead Valley, St. Mary and Lewistown. In Hamilton, the air quality deteriorated to “hazardous.”
“‘Very unhealthy’ is basically when the general public should limit outdoor exercise and people with significant respiratory issues, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor activity,” Martin said. “The general public will begin to have impacts from all outside activity and will experience burning eyes and scratchy throats.”
Air quality in Seeley Lake, Frenchtown, Missoula, Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman, Billings and West Yellowstone was listed as “unhealthy.”
The following Montana counties are under the air-quality alert due to elevated particulate concentrations: Beaverhead, Big Horn, Broadwater, Carbon, Carter, Cascade, Custer, Deer Lodge, Fallon, Fergus, Flathead, Gallatin, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite, Jefferson, Judith Basin, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Park, Pondera, Powder River, Powell, Madison, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli, Rosebud, Sanders, Silver Bow, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Teton, Treasure, Wheatland and Yellowstone.
Some of the smoke cleared out and Flathead Valley air quality improved Friday night when a Canadian cold front arrived and brought rain and wind.
However, the far western edge of the state might only see brief improvement due to the proximity to the large fires in Idaho, according to an afternoon update from the Department of Environmental Quality.
Air quality across the state is expected to deteriorate once again from west to east on Sunday as temperatures rise, fire activity increases and winds turn westerly once again under a ridge of high pressure.