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Dispersion Discussion March 20 2026
Dan Borsum NRCC Predictive Services Meteorologist
Smoke Dispersion Maps and charts on the NRCC Website will be updated MTWTF.
Discussions will be updated Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday and posted to the other days.
Strong high pressure over the southwest US and a jet stream over southern Canada are supporting unseasonably warm temperatures for the region with most locations windy through Saturday.
Friday warm temperatures good sunshine for GOOD to EXCELLENT dispersion most areas. Still breezy to windy over MT. A few valleys in north ID and northwest MT may be a bit more stable and slow to warm with FAIR dispersion. Isolated rain showers over the mountains of north ID and northwest MT.
Saturday upper level high pressure weakens and a front begins to work through northern parts of ID and most of MT. Windy conditions along and behind the front and unstable warm conditions ahead of the front for continued GOOD to VERY GOOD dispersion. Light precipitation possible with the frontal passage.
Sunday still breezy over MT with FAIR to GOOD dispersion but cooler temperatures. ID starting to see a bit more stable conditions with FAIR dispersion.
Monday looks to be relatively stable as the region is in between systems but surface temperatures will still be above normal for most locations so surface lift should be better than the POOR to FAIR dispersion indicates.