Smoke should be arriving later today

We hope everyone was able to enjoy some blue skies and clear air this weekend! Unfortunately, that will come to an end today as southwest flow returns. Smoke from California wildfires should begin arriving in southern Idaho later this morning and will spread northeastward across all but the Panhandle by this evening. It is still unclear how much of this smoke will actually mix down to the surface but some air quality degradation is expected across most of the state overnight into Tuesday morning as the smoke settles in after sunset. Widespread haze with smoke aloft is likely this afternoon.

Heavier impacts could occur in the vicinity of numerous wildfires burning in Idaho, particularly the Woodhead fire in Washington County. The only area expected to avoid smoke impacts today into tonight will be the Panhandle. 

HRRR-Smoke experimental 12Z run modeled vertically-integrated smoke concentrations valid at 4:00 PM MDT on Monday 9/21/20 showing moderate to heavy smoke over all of Idaho except the Panhandle. Most of this smoke is currently elevated but may settle down to the surface tonight.