Some improvements for the weekend - but they will be short lived

Smoke impacts today are expected to be greatest over the Panhandle with a general improvement and clearing over the remainder of the state today. Depending on the strength of the winds over the Columbia Plateau, the Clearwater could see increased impacts this afternoon coming from the west-northwest. Smoke over the Central Idaho Mountains will move east and looks to remain within the drainages and low elevations of the Challis-Salmon area before draining into the Upper Snake River Plain in the evening. In a little bit of good news, much of southern Idaho should expect to see improvement throughout the day once the morning inversion breaks around noon, but don’t break out the party hats yet. Smoke will settle again in the evening after that afternoon lift. The Rattlesnake Creek Fire continues to produce smoke down the 95 corridor into McCall. This evening, that smoke will continue to drain south and into the Treasure Valley. The Panhandle will also be heavily impacted this evening with smoke settling within the Purcell Trench down into Spokane while the Clearwater looks to experience lesser impacts, if any.

Into Saturday, the Panhandle again should expect ample smoke from the west with impacts expanding into the Clearwater in the late morning. Southern Idaho will begin to clear across the Upper Snake and Lower Snake by noon; however, improvement will be short lived as by early evening, fires within the Central Idaho Mountains will drain into the Treasure Valley, Big and Little Wood, and Upper Snake once more. Saturday and into Sunday morning, easterly winds will bring smoke from eastern Idaho into the Middle and Upper Snake River Plain and that smoke looks to linger for much of the day before lifting towards the north. Again, the folks in the Panhandle should expect consistent impacts through Saturday and Sunday and into Monday while the Clearwater looks to get some clearing and reprieve on Sunday. Expect similar conditions on Monday as continued easterly winds will be the driving factor for the day. Due to the strong winds over northern Idaho, there is a possibility of some limited improvement throughout the day on Monday for those stricken areas.

This image depicts forecast smoke impacts to be within the drainages of the Purcell Trench across the Panhandle, the drainages around McCall and into the Lower Payette Valley into the Lower Snake, and across the Middle Snake via the Upper Snake River Plain.

Airfire-Bluesky 3km model forecast initialized 00Z 08/17/2018 and valid 14Z 08/19/2018 (8am MDT 08/19).  Data Source: Airfire Bluesky