Montana Air Quality Takes a Turn for the Worse

The eruption of fires here in Montana the past few days is pushing the state's air quality to "unhealthy" levels, with smoke beginning to build in many of the valley areas Tuesday morning.

However, it's not just Montana smoke beginning to cause problems. Smoke from regional fires across the Northwest is also filtering into the state.

And without any significant change in the weather, breathing could become increasingly difficult, especially for those with respiratory problems, over the next few days.

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The worst morning so far

While the overall air quality readings from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality only showed a few impacts early Tuesday morning, cooler air settling into the valleys caused a quick increase of particulates, especially from fire smoke.

Smoky conditions on MacDonald Pass; MDT photo

By mid-morning, DEQ was reporting that Missoula, Frenchtown, Thompson Falls, and Libby had joined the list of cities where air quality had dropped to "moderate". Butte, Dillon, Bozeman, Billings, and Broadus also continued with "moderate" air, which basically means the air quality is "acceptable", but there's a risk for some people sensitive to air pollution.

Air quality had improved slightly in Seeley Lake and Helena.

The Miller Peak Fire is generating huge smoke columns; USFS photo

Problem spots

However, drilling down to some of the individual "neighborhood" air quality stations was showing "unhealthy" to "very healthy" readings closer to the Miller Peak Fire, like Upper Pattee Canyon, and Lower Miller Creek.

Areas near the 13,000-acre Horse Gulch Fire south of Helena were also at "unhealthy" levels.

Map showing smoke plumes in gray, and fire activity in MT; EPA

Local and regional smoke

Maps from the EPA are showing Montana is starting to see impacts from the accelerated fire activity in Washington's Cascade range, blazes near Lewiston, Idaho, and fires burning in Eastern Oregon.

As is typical in this summer conditions, with heat, low humidity, and afternoon winds, it's expected air quality will worsen the rest of the week. People with respiratory problems will likely want to limit their time outdoors and consider steps to make their homes as smoke-free as possible.

Air quality isn't likely to improve until we get a change in the high pressure that's creating this heat wave, and there's no sign of that happening until next week, at the earliest.