The number of people surprised to travel to the Northern Rockies (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho) in August and find it smokey seems to be higher than usual this year; maybe we’re just hearing more complaints from folks about smoke and haze obscuring their views of big rivers and mountain vistas.
August is often the peak of fire season in the West, always has been and always will be, as undergrowth and timber finally dry out under the summer sun and thunderstorms (and dickheads) trigger fires here and there.
There’s a damned useful site – InciWeb – managed by The National Wildfire Coordinating Group, which details the latest information about fires (incidents) in the US. You can sort by state, or even a look up a particular fire; the screen cut above is from the page reporting the Rice Ridge Fire near Seely Lake, MT (we have several friends with property there).
Headed north this month? There’ll likely be a bit of smoke around; a little flexibility in travel plans might be damned useful and InciWeb can help sort things out.
