Smoke moving south from Central Mountain fires

Today’s air quality is forecast to be in the Good to Very Unhealthy range with periods in the Hazardous range near regional and local fires.  

The fires in the Central Mountains of Idaho are generating areas of thick smoke and haze across portions of the Central Mountains, the Treasure Valley, and the Magic Valley. Light to patchy smoke and haze are visible over East Idaho. This afternoon, northerly winds will continue to nudge areas of smoke from the Central Mountains into the Magic Valley, the Treasure Valley, and the Southeast Highlands. The southward movement will temporarily provide for limited clearing across East Idaho this evening before more smoke moves in early tomorrow morning. The areas of smoke will linger overnight across South Idaho. With the light winds, areas of smoke from the Central Mountains will also spread north into the Clearwater Basin tomorrow morning, and the Palouse by the afternoon. As temperatures decrease tonight, lingering smoke can become trapped under surface temperature inversions and raise local AQI levels until the inversions break later the in morning, offering limited clearing.

HRRR-NCEP Near Surface Smoke model initialized at 6 a.m. MDT August 29, 2024 shows areas of smoke and haze from local fires in the Central Mountains extending across South and East Idaho. Light to patchy smoke and haze are visible over East Idaho.