The Salmon Forks fire located 2.5 miles east of Big Salmon Lake on the Flathead/Powell County line has been very active and putting off a lot of smoke here of late. This smoke plume will continue to impact some locations in north-central Montana over the next couple of days, especially right along the Rocky Mountain Front. Areas impacted by the smoke plume will have hazy skies and reduced air quality, while everywhere else should have good air quality and just a little haze.
We are going to have increasing clouds this evening and tonight with a few showers and isolated thunderstorms, generally around the Helena area and in north-central Montana west of I-15. There will also be a little breeze around through early tonight along the eastern half of the Hi-Line. It is also going to be mild tonight as lows are going to be in the upper 40s and low to mid 50s.
Tomorrow, we are going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies with a few showers and isolated thunderstorms, generally around the Helena area and in western portions of north-central Montana. It is also going to be cooler tomorrow than it was today around Helena and in western portions of north-central Montana as highs are going to be in the 70s and upper 60s in most locations. In eastern portions of north-central Montana, it is going to be warm tomorrow as highs are going to be in the 80s. There is also going to be a breeze around tomorrow in western and central portions of north-central Montana as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
On Wednesday, we are going to have partly cloudy skies with a few isolated showers around. It is also going to feel nice outside on Wednesday as highs are going to be in the 70s and mid to upper 60s in most locations. There is also going to be a breeze around in a lot of areas on Wednesday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
We are then going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies on Thursday and partly cloudy skies on Friday with a few isolated showers around on both days, generally in the mountains, as we remain in an unsettled weather pattern. The temperatures will also cool down some more over these two days as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 60s and low to mid 70s on Thursday and the 60s on Friday. It is also going to be a bit breezy in some areas on these two days as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
A more significant storm system will impact the state this weekend. On Saturday, we are going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies with a few rain and mountain snow showers around later in the day. There is then going to be some scattered rain and mountain snow around Saturday night into Sunday, especially in central Montana. This will likely be the first accumulating snowfall of the season for a lot of the mountains in central and north-central Montana. The temperatures will also cool down a lot over these two days as highs are going to be in the 60s and upper 50s on Saturday and the 50s and upper 40s on Sunday. A widespread frost/freeze is also expected Sunday night with lows in the 20s and 30s.
