Smoke FreeButte, Montana, from the East Ridge. July 2, 2021.

Here it is already September. Oddly, as I write this a wind change has moved the wildfire smoke that I wanted to talk about away from Butte, Montana. I really hope that it stays away for awhile.

Fortunately, for us here in Butte, the closest significant fires are about 50 miles to our southwest. We sometimes see smoke from those fires, but mostly we see smoke from the large regional fires in California, Oregon, and Idaho. 

Our smoky skies started in late July and have been with us through August and into September. The photo at right was taken July 2, 2021. Butte sits in the northern end of the valley, Big Butte is on the horizon, and the Anaconda Range (30 miles away) is in the distance. Views like this are what we enjoy and love in southwest Montana.
SmokeButte, Montana, from the East Ridge. September 9, 2021.

The photo at left was taken on September 9, 2021 from much the same location as the photo above. You can see the point of Big Butte at right on the horizon (about 3 miles away) and not much else.

Too many of our evenings this late summer have featured the sun as a baleful red eye surrounded by dense grey haze and falling ash. 

Fortunately, the weather seems to be changing towards fall. According to the Missoula Weather Service, our next cold front will have a touch of the polar jet involved, a first sign that the season is beginning to turn.

Thanks for reading!