Out of state wildfires brings smoke to Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - Thanks to some out-of-state fires, most of Wyoming woke up to smoke and haze Tuesday morning.

According to Wyoming State Forestry, wildfires have been burning in Idaho.

“They had some pretty intense fire behavior. The fire conditions and weather all lined up for erratic fire behavior and rapid fire growth. That caused most of the smoke to be filtering in from those areas,” said Jerod DeLay, Assistant State Forester, Fire Management Officer.

As well as the Western states of Oregon, California, Washington, and Montana

”All the smoke that you see is actually getting transported in over many hundreds of miles from the west,” said Michael Charnick, Meteorologist, National Weather Service Cheyenne.

Several fires are at or over the 100,000 acres burned range.

”They’re working with a lot of fuel and a lot of dry conditions out there so the fires have been exhibiting a lot f burning, a lot of uncontrolled fire behavior,” said Charnick.

Tomorrow the National Weather Service says a weather system that may include showers will help kick out the smoke, but we may see it return later in the week.

Air quality, especially in the north and the central-eastern part of the state, is the worst, so folks with respiratory issues should plan accordingly.

There is also a fire currently in Wyoming in Washakie park that has burned 2,400 acres and is 30 percent contained.

Precipitation levels across the U.S. help determine how long and when fire the season finishes for this year and may run yearlong.

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