BOZEMAN — We continue to get a lot of haze and smoke over southwest Montana from the rest of the Pacific Northwest, and it has put much of our area's air quality at "moderate", which is the category just worse than "good". After some isolated showers and thunderstorms this evening, we can expect a partly cloudy, hazy, smoky and mild night with most lows in the 50s.
A better fetch of monsoon moisture will push over Montana on Wednesday, and that will increase our chance for flooding rain in some areas. Most of the mountains of southwest Montana are under a Flood Watch Wednesday afternoon and evening, due to the potential for slow-moving areas of rain and thunderstorms. Seek higher ground if river levels rise!
We can expect seasonably warm highs on Wednesday despite the increased shower and thunderstorm activity. Thursday will be slightly warmer with only isolated thunderstorm activity. A strong ridge of high pressure will bring much hotter weather our way on Friday and this weekend, with most highs rising into the 90s. Next Monday and Tuesday should be slightly cooler.
