Good air quality continues - last post for the season hopefully!

This will be our last blog post for the season (fingers and toes crossed). Air quality has remained in the GOOD to MODERATE range across the state and is forecast to stay that way for the forseeable future.

Over North Idaho, light smoke and haze will linger through the day with limited clearing this afternoon before more light to patchy smoke and haze moves in from Washington and remains overnight. Central Idaho will see limited clearing of the light smoke and haze this afternoon before more light smoke and haze drifts in from Washington this evening and lingers overnight. Light smoke and haze in South Idaho will see limited clearing this afternoon as well with light smoke and haze remaining overnight. Winds will shift more southerly and easterly tomorrow afternoon, helping to clear out regional haze and smoke across Idaho. With winds expected to increase across the region on Thursday and Friday, smoke production could ramp up for fires in Idaho’s Central Mountains and in central Washington. As temperatures decrease tonight, lingering smoke and haze across Idaho will become trapped under surface temperature inversions and settle in valleys and low-lying areas which will raise local AQI levels until the inversions break later in the morning. The highest AQI levels will be seen around those fires localized to the Central Mountains and North Idaho. Those areas could experience brief periods of UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS.

NOAA GOES-West GeoColor (true color) visible satellite image captured at 15:16 UTC (9:16 a.m. MDT) on 22 September 2025 shows isolated clouds across the elevated terrain of Idaho with valley fog in the Panhandle. Smoke and haze is visible over central Washington drifting southeast with smoke and haze over the Clearwater Basin.