Montana Wildfire, Smoke, and Air Quality Map

Fire season and landscape

Large fire activity typically peaks from mid July into September. Western valleys like the Bitterroot and Missoula basins are prone to multi-week smoke inversions when regional fires are active, even when Montana's own fire activity is low.

The Flathead, Lolo, Bitterroot, and Custer Gallatin national forests carry most of the state's timber fire load, while the eastern two thirds of Montana is grass and breaks country where a windy day can move a fire miles. Glacier and Yellowstone national parks anchor the state's two busiest visitor corridors, both of which sit inside active fire country.

• Western Montana's valley inversions mean the air quality layer often matters here more than the perimeter layer.
• Eastern Montana grass fires can outrun mapped perimeters; the 24-hour satellite hotspot layer is the faster signal there.
• SNOTEL stations across the Bitterroot, Madison, and Beartooth ranges feed the snowpack layer through winter and spring.