Brief clearing followed by more smoke

Air quality forecasts for today range from the Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups category. Windy, unstable conditions could cause fires in central Idaho to generate more smoke, which will increase local impacts. New starts are also possible.

These conditions will provide some brief clearing of smoke this afternoon in the Snake River Plain but smoke from the west will arrive this evening. The Panhandle will start to see smoke from southern Canada today. Fires in Idaho and Montana will impact eastern Idaho. 

In general, there will be widespread smoke across the state this week, including an increase in local impacts as the conditions become more stable and smoke movement slows down.

07/13/21 NWS AQFG Vertical Smoke initialized 06z and valid 5pm MDT.  This graphic shows modeled smoke across all of Idaho with pockets of increased concentrations across central and northern Idaho.