Missoula Valley Air “Unhealthy” Thanks to Idaho Fires

By Courtney Lowery, 8-19-08

It smells like late summer in the Missoula Valley today (or what late summer usually smells like around here). The smoky skies, which have been relatively unfamiliar this summer, are likely thanks to several large fires burning in Idaho.

The Missoula City County Health Department this morning deemed the air quality in Missoula “unhealthy.” And in a quick peek at this satellite image from this morning, (I’ve marked where Missoula is with a red check mark) you can see from where the majority of the smoke in the region is coming. The Snow Hole fire is the largest fire at 2,900 acres. It’s just about due West of Missoula on the near the western Idaho border. But the ones putting up the big smoke in this snapshot are the Rattlesnake (30 miles West of Darby, Mont.) at 2,600 acres, the most southern on this image, the Porcupine, at 300 acres near Elk City, Idaho on the Nez Perce National Forest and the 500-acre Moose Creek Wildland Fire Use fire southwest of Powell, Idaho.

Click here for updated smoke maps and here for more large fire maps.

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