textproduct: Boise

KEY MESSAGES

- Dry cold front this evening will bring critical fire weather conditions and gusty winds.

- Not as hot Sunday through Tuesday.

- The heat returns by midweek with temperatures back above normal.

SHORT TERM /Through Monday Night/

A dry cold frontal passage remains on track for later this afternoon/evening. Gusty winds along the leading edge of the front will push into Baker County after 3PM PDT, reaching the OR/ID border around 7PM MDT, then onto the western Magic Valley by 1AM MDT. Gusts of 35 to 45 mph will blow across Baker County and far northern Malheur County, the highest speeds channeling along the I-84 corridor between Baker City and Ontario. The gusty winds and low relative humidity ahead of and along the front will create critical fire weather conditions through early evening. As relative humidity recovers with sunset, gusty winds will continue across portions of Baker County and have kept the Wind Advisory to highlight the continued wind threat into tonight. Winds will remain gusty overnight (25-35 mph) across northern Harney and Malheur counties, eastward through the Snake Plain.

Sunday and Monday are not as hot with high temperatures around 10 degrees below normal (low-mid 80s for the valleys). The mornings will be cool as well, with lows not seen since late June or early July. Westerly winds will ramp up again on Sunday bringing gusts of 25 to 35 mph across open and elevated terrain of SE Oregon and the Snake Plain of Idaho. Monday will see breezy but lighter winds with gusts remaining under 25 mph. In general expect the wildfire smoke to thin out near the surface tonight into Sunday. Beyond that, westerly winds will work to bring the smoke back into the area from fires in central Oregon. How quickly it returns will depend on fire activity after tonight's frontal passage.

LONG TERM /Tuesday through Saturday/

Another stretch of hot and dry conditions will set in next week as the Desert SW ridge expands northward. This will bring a return to above normal temperatures starting Wednesday and continuing through the weekend. Without smoke this will put lower elevations in the mid-upper 90s, however west-northwest flow aloft and light winds near the surface would be favorable for smoke to collect from nearby fires. Similar to this last week, the tradeoff for not quite as hot in the extended period will be due to greater smoke coverage/density.

AVIATION /18Z Saturday through Sunday/

Issued 1151 AM MDT SAT AUG 1 2026 Widespread low-VFR and areas MVFR visibility through this evening due to wildfire smoke. Hot temperatures creating high density altitude this afternoon. Surface winds: SW-NW 5-15 kt with gusts to 15-25 kt this afternoon, then, W-NW 10-20 kt with 25-45 kt gusts with cold front tonight.

KBOI...Wildfire smoke will continue to reduce visibility, with mostly low VFR conditions. Brief MVFR possible through early evening. Westerly surface winds will remain in place through Sunday.

Sunday Outlook...Gusty W-NW surface winds 10-20 kt with gusts to 30 kt through sunset. Wildfire smoke is expected to mix out which will improve near surface visibility while westerly winds aloft transport elevated smoke layers into the region.

BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ID...Air Quality Alert until 2 PM MDT Monday for IDZ011-012-014-015- 029-033. Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for IDZ400-402- 423. OR...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT /8 PM PDT/ this evening for ORZ670>675. Air Quality Alert until 3 PM MDT /2 PM PDT/ Monday for ORZ061>064. Wind Advisory from 8 PM this evening to 2 AM PDT Sunday for ORZ062.