MISSOULA — Red Flag Warnings remain in effect for parts of Western Montana (excluding the far northwest corner) until 9 PM tonight.
Monsoonal moisture from our south is moving in, but the word ‘monsoon’ is not actually tied with how much rain we get.
It is the description of shifting wind patterns.
With afternoon and evening storms Monday, a lot of moisture will not make it to the ground, therefore, gusty wind and lightning strikes on dry vegetation will be the key focus on starting new fires and spreading existing ones.
Rain is likely to hit the ground with our next round of showers on Tuesday.
Again, thunderstorms will be the main focus of Tuesday’s forecast, but we will at least see a little more rain reach the ground.
Wednesday comes with a few isolated storms, but then we start clearing up for the rest of the week.
Highs this week stay in the upper 80s and low 90s.
Expect smoke to be a major part of our forecast over the next several days.
Just because it is cloudy and raining doesn’t mean smoke moves out.
Fires from our west are still producing smoke and it is blowing in from the west and southwest.
A little wind from these storms could temporarily clear our air out, but we still deal with incoming of new smoke pouring into our area after storms move out.
