Smoky near Salmon; impacts limited elsewhere

Air quality forecasts for today are in the Good to Moderate Category with Salmon in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups Category. 

An upper-level low pressure system off the Oregon coast will compete with the 4-Corners High to steer south-southwest winds into Idaho. This will bring hot conditions to much of the state with a slight chance for isolated showers over the intersection of OR/ID/NV this afternoon and slightly expanding in coverage tomorrow. Light, terrain-driven winds will be from the west-southwest at 2-8 mph with easterly winds within the Middle and Lower Snake River Plain today. Look for locally northwest winds over the LC Valley and the Camas and Weippe Prairie. 

Smoke will continue to affect the Central Idaho Mountains the greatest today with regional smoke tracking from the west-southwest. The Salmon area will see periods of increased smoke in response to more active fire conditions. Hazy conditions will develop at times over the Lower Treasure Valley particularly in the afternoon. The offshore low-pressure system is shunting smoke from northern California and Oregon to the west, limiting the impact of that smoke into Idaho today. Finally, the southerly flow pattern is expected to keep smoke from Canadian wildfires away from Panhandle today. 

Video: HRRR-Smoke Vertically Integrated Smoke initialized at 12Z (06am MDT) and valid at 12am MDT 08/09 shows smoke over eastern and the east-central mountains with plenty of smoke tracking offshore.